Ritsu Kurosaki
by Dashita Tichou
Summary: "Who am I? I will tell you.  I am your worst nightmare.  I am the end of the world.  I am Yo No Owari."  "I shall tell you whho I am.  I am Ritsu Masaki and I am here to end the world.  Come to truth Yo No Owari!"
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Ramblings**

**Dashita Tichou: Tada! I felt like doing an insert story, so...**

**Ichigo: Here she, I mean it, is.**

**Ritsu Kurosaki: Hi!**

**Yuzu: Nee-san!**

**Karin: Who cares... I'm still in permanent denial**

**Floating Ghost Nearby: *Ice cubed* S-so c-c-cold...**

**Ichigo: Just go to the damn story already!**

**Dashita Tichou: Yeepee! (Don't worry, I'll work on The Road To Remembrence and have a chapter of it up by June 10th. I promise!)**

**Yuzu: Have fun reading!**

_"We stand in awe before that which cannot be seen and we respect with every fiber that which cannot be explained."_

A young man with bright orange hair and brown eyes was standing in an alleyway with a girl that just had to be his twin. For one thing, she had the exact same shade of hair and for another, she had the same color eye. She had a slimmer build and was only a little shorter than the young man next to her. She spun around to walk backwards as they walked down a main street.

"Hey Ichi-nii! Are we gonna visit the ghost of that little girl again today?" she asked with a very high soft voice and a smile a mile wide. She had on the school uniform of a gray pleated skirt and the accompanied jacket. Ichigo, or Ich-nii, wore the male equivalent with pants instead of a skirt.

"Yeah. We are Rii." Ritsu, or Rii, smiled twice as big.

"Ichigo?" she asked even quieter.

"Yeah Rii?" he responded.

"Why can we see them when no one else can?"

"I don't know Ritsu." he sighed. They had been over this before. "We just can."

Just then, a gang came blasting out of the alley in front of them.

"Dude!" one of them shouted, "Nice rail!" Ichigo just kept walking. When he got to the alley, the gang was walking back down it, skateboards in hand.

"Here we go again..." Ritsu sighed. Ichigo was always getting into fights. He walked up to them when he saw that a vase of flowers had been knocked over.

"Oh no!" Ritsu said. Ichigo grabbed the nearest gangster and punched him in the face. The man in the front turned around with a vein pulsing on his forehead.

"You got a death-wish pal?" he demanded, "No one hurts one of _my_ boys and lives to tell the tale." Ichigo just reached up and scratched the side of his head.

"That's all you got to say pal?" Ichigo didn't answer. "Arrgh!" the guy went to punch Ichigo, but was met by a kick in the face. Ichigo then knocked him to the ground and repeatedly stomped on his back.

"Little Yamma's down!" on of the gangsters said, "We gotta help him!"

"Are you crazy?" another asked.

"No way I'm taking on that physco!" declared the last one.

Ichigo finished of the leader of the gang by smashing his face into the ground with a final kick. Ritsu just turned to the side of the alley and pounded her head against the wall.

"Now listen up you pond-scum!" Ichigo yelled, "Do you see that?" He pointed at the spilled vase of flowers. "First question. What do you think that is? You the one in the middle. Answer!"

"Uhh... What you talkin' to me?" the dude in the middle pointed at himself. "Uhh... I guess somebody left those flowers for some kid who got killed at.

"Correct!" Ichigo rewarded the corect answer by knocking the dude out with a kick to the face.

"Why? Ritsu said as she sat down. She stopped banging her head because she was giving herself a headache.

"Now the next question." Ichigo said as he moved on to the next gangster. "That vase over there. Why is it lying on its side?"

"Uhh.. I guess... one of us knocked it over when we were skateboarding through here?" It was a statement, but with the way the gangster said it, it sounded like a question.

"You guys can't talk fast." Ichigo ninja kicked both of the standing gangsters to the ground.

"Ichi-nii!" Ritsu tried to interupt. It didn't work, he just ignored her. She shook her head and put her chin on her knees.

"NOW GO AND APOLOGIZE OR ELSE THE NEXT TIME THE FLOWERS WILL BE FOR YOU!" Ichigo looked like a demon as he yelled at the gangsters who were wimpering.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" the gangsters yelled as they scrambled to get away from him. "WE'RE SORY! WE'RE SORRY! WE'RE SORRY! WE'RE SORRY!" they scrambled off and Ritsu stood up.

"Well, that oughta keep those gangsters from coming around here soon." he turned to face the ghost that appeared over the flowers. "Sorry about that. I'll bring you by some new flowers tomorrow."

Ritsu looked at the small girl ghost.

"I'll make sure they're arranged nicely." she said as she knelt down and ruffled the ghost's hair.

"Thank you for coming to my defense." the ghost said. "I think I'll finally be able to rest peacefully." Ichigo knelt down next to Ritsu and picked up the knocked over flowers.

"No problem." Ichigo said as he started to walk off. "You're dead, so you deserve to rest in peace."

"I hope you find happiness in your afterlife." Ritsu bowed and then ran after Ichigo.

"Good job Ichi-nii!" she said with a smile. "I think you do a good deed every time you help one of those ghosts."

"Yeah?" said Ichigo, "Well, you're not so bad at it yourself."

_We're both only fifteen, but we already do so much good in high school and for the dearly departed._ Ritsu thought. _I guess it's even better because Dad runs the medical clinic._ Ritsu smiled again and switched to forward walking as they got to their home. Ichigo opened the door and went in first.

"We're home!" he called. He was greeted by getting kicked across the room by their dad.

HE turned to Ritsu and she joined Ichigo in learning how to fly. She turned and grabbed their dad's foot and smashing him into the wall in front of her.

He peeled himself off of the wall and sent Ritsu crashing into Ichigo as he was just standing up.

"OoOoO..." they both groaned.

"You let your guard down!" he said. "Always be on guard when you enter a room and you're late for dinner again."

"COME ON!" they yelled. Ichigo turned on their dad.

"IS THAT ANY WAY TO WELCOME YOUR ELDEST CHILDREN HOME AFTER THEY JUST RISKED THEIR LIVES TO HELP A SPIRIT FIND PEACE?" Ichigo was up in his face and Ritsu was standing next to him.

"YEAH YOU BIG FAT BAKA!" she joined in the yelling. She was a big airhead, but when it came to their father, she was deadly skilled. "I COULD'VE BEEN KILLED BY SOME RANDOM ASS-HOLE, BUT INSTEAD OF A TEARY EYED WELCOME, I GET A FOOT IN THE FACE AAND A PUNCH IN THE GUT!" Having had her say, she went to get dinner, but their dad grabbed a handful of her long orange locks and pulled her back into the argument. After a few minutes, in which one of the younger twins tried to stop the fight and the other just ate their food, Ritsu ended the fight by kicking their dad, and Ichigo by mistake, below the belt rather harshly.

"Sorry Yuzu," she said to the twin who had cooked and tried to stop the fighting, "I'm not hungry anymore. I'm going to bed." Ritsu turned and walked up the stairs with Ichigo very sorely climbing up after her. Ichigo took a lot longer to come up, so by the time he made it to their room, Ritsu was already through her super speed shower and in her pjs.

"Ichi-nii?" she said as he dragged himself through the doorway to their shared room, "Have you been seeing a lot more spirits recently?"

"Yeah." he answered, "What of it?"

"Nothing. I was just curious." Ritsu rolled over in her bed and yawned.

Their room had bare walls and only one window and closet. Ichigo's bed was on the right as you came into the room and Ritsu's was on the left with the head of her bed at the window. At the foot of Ichigo's bed was their shared closet which was currently empty. At the foot of Ritsu's bed was her dresser and Ichigo's dresser was nest to his headboard beside the window. In the next room over was their desks and school stuff.

"G'night Ichi-nii." Ritsu said.

"Good night Rii. See you in the morning."

Ritsu closed her eyes and snuggled under her blankets.

The next morning, Ritsu's alarm clock went off at six am. She stood up, yawned, and went to take a shower.

"Ichi-nii!" she said as she shook her brother awake, "It's 6:15! You have to get up!" Ichigo opened his eyes and his face turned bright red as he threw his blankets over his head.

"PUT SOME CLOTHES ON YOU STUPID GIRL!" he shouted. He had been looking at Ritsu's towel clad chest area when he opened his eyes. Ritsu looked down and then hitched her towel a little higher.

"Sorry Ichi-nii! But I want to be at school early today so I can talk to Orihime-chan! Please get up!"

"Not until you get some God-damn clothes on!" he shouted back. The commotion attracted the attention of their father.

"Good morning my dearly beloved childr-" he stopped talking as he saw Ritsu without a towel as she was pulling her school shirt over her head. He saw her pink undies and got a glimpse of her matching bra.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!" Ritsu screamed. "GET OUT YOU PERVERT OF A FATHER!" When he didn't move, Ritsu picked her towel off of her bed and threw it straight into his face.

"Isshin!" she commanded, "If you don't get out right now, I'll kick you so hard you'll be unconscious till next Saturday!" Isshin, their dad, backed out of the door when Ritsu threw one of her dresser drawers at him.

"AND STAY OUT YOU PERVERT!" Since this was a normal occurrence in the Kurosaki house-hold, neighbors didn't bother to set an alarm and just woke up to the yelling and sound of things being thrown.

Ritsu finished getting dressed and then dragged her pj clad twin out of bed.

"Come on Ichi-nii!" she wined, "I'm dressed now!" Ichigo got up wearily and ran through the shower quickly so Ritsu could still get there early enough to chat with Orihime before class.

When he got downstairs, Ritsu was in tears by the T-V with a foam cup of coffee in one hand.

"What's wrong?" he asked her.

"The... the... the people... I can... see... the ghosts..." she sobbed. She ran into Ichigo's arms and hugged her twin. He looked over to see the news report of the explosions. He saw the ghosts too, but what disturbed him more was where it was.

"That's near here..." he muttered. Yuzu came over with a piece of toast for Ichigo and a tissue for Ritsu.

"It's okay nee-san!" Yuzu said as she handed Ritsu the tissues. Ritsu smiled at Yuzu and took the tissues.

"Thank you Yuzu-chan." she said quietly. She wiped up her tears and took a sip of coffee. She was feeling a little better already. She let go of Ichigo and then walked out the door. Ichigo followed after her after double checking that he still had the flowers for the ghost of the little girl.

Ichigo quickly walked in front of Ritsu and he led the way to the alleyway they had been in yesterday.

"Hey!" Ichigo called when they got there. There was no answer.

"Are you here?" Ritsu called out in a worried tone. "Where could she-" She was interupted by the sound of an explosion nearby. Ichigo took off with Ritsu right behind him.

"What is it?" she asked.

"I don't know." he answered. They got to the scene of the explosion from that morning in time to see another explosion. The only difference was that there wasn't really an explosion. Ritsu stared in horror as the dust cleared. They dust cleared for them to see the ghost of the little girl chasing.

"Oni-san! Nee-san!" she called out to them.

"Run!" Ichigo yelled to her. Behind her was an enormous praying mantis with a skull musk over its face.

"Oh no..." Ritsu whispered. She was rooted to the spot. Ichigo sent the ghost of the little girl ahead and ran back to grab Ritsu by the back of her shirt.

"Run you idiot!" he yelled as he started dragging her bodily. Ritsu got a hold of herself and started running as the monster caught up. It yanked Ritsu away from Ichigo with one of its enormous claws.

"Ichigo!" she yelled in fear. Suddenly, a figure dressed in black robes came out of nowhere. It cut off the claw holding Ritsu and then slashed the monster right down the center of its mask.

"W- who're you?" Ritsu stammered. The figure turned out to be a petite young woman with violet eyes and raven black hair. A stray bang hung down the center of her face. She sheathed her sword and then disappeared Ichigo ran up to Ritsu and pulled her off. She dusted herself off and fixed her skirt.

"You okay?" he asked her with concern.

"Y-yeah..." she stammered, "W-what was th-that thing?"

"I have no clue." Ichigo answered. Ritsu turned to start to walk to school, but she tripped over her own two feet.

"Are you sure you're okay to go to school today?" he asked with concern in his voice.

"I have to!" she answered earnestly, "I promised Orihime-chan that I would talk to her this morning!"

"Okay, but you have to promise to tell me if you don't feel well, got it?"

"Yeah." They headed to school, but Ichigo kept a close eye on Ritsu through all of their morning classes. Since she sat right next to him, it was a simple enough task.

When lunch time rolled around, Ichigo pulled Ritsu up to the roof to eat with him and his friends, but not before Orihime spotted them.

"Where are you going Ritsu-kun?" she asked with concern.

"Well," Ritsu answered, "I was crying this morning because of that huge explosion near the station and Ichigo was worried about me coming to school today and I think that he really just wants to make sure I don't start crying again. Will you come with me to eat?"

"Sure!" Orihime answered with a huge smile. "Maybe I can share my terriaki with honey and mustard!"

"Umm..." Ritsu's face went really green at the mention of such an atrocity of food. "N-no thanks... I have my own lunch..." Ichigo looked back at the two.

"Hurry up Ritsu, Inue!" Ichigo started to walk up the stairs.

"Come on Orihime-chan!" Ritsu started to race after Ichigo and Orihime chased after her.

When Ritsu got to the roof, she plopped down between her brother and Keigo and Orihime sat down next to Keigo and Ritsu. She felt a little nervous with such a big group of tough guys. She only felt nervous that is, until Keigo tried to lift up her skirt.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" she shrieked.

"Keigo you little perv!" the Kurosaki twins shouted at the same time.

"Keigo," Ritsu began to threaten, "If you touch Orihime-chan one more time, I will kick you so hard that you will never _ever_ enjoy sexually harassing another woman even just by looking up her skirt because every time that you try that, you'll think of the pain I inflicted on you." Ritsu sounded and looked just like always, but Keigo only saw Hell's greatest demon scorching him with flames.

"Yes ma'am. Yes Miss Kurosaki-san!" he squeaked out. He suddenly disappeared from the roof with his lunch and his play boy buddy Muizura.

Orihime scooted away a little from her second best friend.

"It's okay Orihime-chan! I only wanted to protect you!" Ritsu assured her. Still, Orihime didn't scoot any closer.

Unfortunately, or fortunately for Orihime, she had never seen Ritsu carry out one of her death-threats. She had seen the after-effects though and she paled when she thought of what might happen to the little brown haired pervert.

After lunch, everyone finished up classes and started to head home. Since it was four o'clock, Ritsu didn't want to go straight home.

"Ichi-nii?" she asked, "Can we go to the park first?"

"Sorry Rii," he answered, "Not right now, maybe tomorrow." They finished their walk home in silence.

When they got there, Ritsu went straight up to their desk room to draw. She set up her sketch station and immediately started to draw. She started out with a single rose laying on a bed. When she started to color it, other flowers seemed to come out of nowhere onto the parchment. Still, the rose was the prettiest flower on it. She added a few hughes of gold around the petals so it could stand out even more. When she was finished, it was dinner time. She grabbed her easel and put the picture in a frame before heading down.

Ritsu walked down the stairs to find her father fly straight into her painting. It was completely ruined. She just stood there while her father came at her again. She fell to her knees with tears forming in her eyes. Isshin stopped, sensing something was wrong.

"Ritsu-chan?" he asked her hesitantly.

"Don't ever call me that again." she said quietly.

"Eh?" was all he could say.

"I said, 'Don't ever call me that again." she said loudly. "From now on, you can refer to me as Ritsu Masaki!" Isshin looked at her drawing in horror, finally seeing what he had done wrong.

"But Ritsu-cha-" Ritsu stood up and did a spin kick to his head.

"I TOLD YOU TO NOT CALL ME THAT AGAIN!" she yelled. "I'm moving out." she said in the deathly silence. She went back up the stairs and started to pack her stuff haphazardly into a suit case. A moment later, Ichigo came running into their room.

"Ritsu! You can't move out!" he said to her.

"You wanna bet?" her tone was deadly. Ichigo flinched and then moved back a few steps.

"At least stay until morning and sleep on it!" he begged her.

"Fine." she said in that same deadly tone. She kept packing her things.

_For an air-head, she can be a killer when she wants to. It's like she has a split personality..._ Ichigo went back down stairs and cleaned up the glass and what remained of her beautiful artwork. He started tapping pieces together until he noticed words along the edge.

_Mother fair and mother near, help to find what is most dear. Keep me close and let me stay warm while I try with all my heart to go on. Still I yearn to be tucked in goodnight. Still I yearn for you to hold me tight. Why you're gone I know quite well. If only I hadn't went and fell..._

Ichigo felt tears welling up in his eyes. Now he knew why Ritsu was so upset. He went into his dad's office.

"Dad," he started, "We need to talk about what happened with Ritsu earlier."

"What about it?" Isshin asked. Ichigo tossed the picture that Ritsu had drawn and then pointed at the words on the edges. Then he walked out.

He headed back up stairs to where Ritsu was asleep in bed.

"Sorry air-head." he said quietly. He pulled Ritsu's blankets higher over her, changed into his pjs, and he laid down on his bed.

"I'm not an air-head." Ritsu's voice was so quiet that Ichigo almost didn't hear her.

"What?" he asked, only a little louder.

"I'm not an air-head." Ichigo looked to see that Ritsu hadn't moved. "Everybody always assumes that I'm super-tough because I'm your twin or that I'm a wimp. There's no middle ground." Ritsu sat up and leaned against her wall, facing Ichigo.

"Sure there is." Ichigo said, "Inue doesn't think you're super-tough although she knows you can beat the snot out of people when you have a reason and she treats you like you're smart. Just like you treat her as an equal." Ritsu shook her head.

"That's not what I meant. I don't mean Orihime-chan. Orihime-chan treats me that way because she actually knows me and she's known me since before..." Ritsu's voice became choked up.

"Hey, it's okay." Ichigo got out of his bed and gave his twin sister a hug. "It's okay." Ritsu hugged him back really fast and then pulled out of his hug.

"I'm still moving out though. I'm gonna see if Orihime-chan will let me live at her apartment. I guess I'll have to get a part time job..." Ritsu put her chin on her knees and brushed a lock of her orange hair out off her face.

Ichigo sat next to her on her bed for quite a while before going to lay down on his own bed.

**Author's Ramblings**

**Dashita Tichou: So, what'd ya think? Please review! *Puppy dog eyes***

**Ritsu: If you didn't catch it, Masaki is the name of our mom.**

**Dashita Tichou: I didn't know what Masaki's maiden name was (If she has one) so I went with her first name!**

**Ritsu: You mean _I_ did.**

**Dashita Tichou: Yeah, yeah, yeah...**

_**Hit the Button!**_

_**You know you want to!**_

_**It's right there!**_

**l  
>V<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Dashita: *gasping for breath* The library... had no... Bleach... *Faints***

**Ritsu: Oh no! It can't have no Bleach! NO Bleach means that the story I'm based off of doesn't exist and that means that I... *melts into a puddle of ink on the ground***

**Dahita: *wakes up* All the volumes were checked out!**

**Ichigo: Oh no! Big fat whoop.**

**Ichigo: *Gets knocked in the head with a wrench***

**Dashita Tichou: As way of explanation for previous statement, I've started watching Full metal Alchemist and I borrowed a move from Winr-**

**Ichigo: *Clomps Dashita Tichou on head even harder with the wrench***

**Dashita: *crickets* *then...* OH NO! *tears* you broke my tin foil... the aliens will find me...!**

**Ritsu: *re-solidifies* *gets tape* *fixes tin foil* There you go!**

**Ichigo: She doesn't own Bleach and she doesn't own me...**

**Ritsu: She made me up! *mutttering* Too bad she put me with a half-wit strawberry for a brother...**

**Ichigo: What did you say?**

**Dashita: And so the story continues... *goes to save her OC bravely with a wrench in hand***

After a few minutes, he looked over and heard Ritsu's slow breathing. He laid there for a few minutes before he started to think about what had happened that day.

_"I don't get it."_ he thought to himself, _"Who was she..."_ His eyes widened as a black butterfly threw in through the empty window at the foot of Ritsu's bed. It flew into the middle of the room and suddenly, the girl from earlier appeared.

"Who... are you...?" he asked in shock. She didn't answer. Instead, she put her hand on her sword's hilt.

"Who the hell are you?" he demanded as he pressed himself against the wall. "Hey!" She still didn't answer and she glanced around their room.

"It's near." she said quietly. Ichigo suddenly slammed into her head with his foot, but he was trying to keep from waking up Ritsu.

"Don't give me 'It's near' dumbass!" he told her quietly. "You scare me shitless and then IGNORE me? I asked you who the hell you are!" She turned toward him and looked very confused.

"You can see me? Rather... you kicked me..."

"Huh?" Ichigo asked, "What bullshit're you talking about? Of course I can see y-"

"You're the boy from town earlier!" she said as she stood up. She looked over at Ritsu's bed. "And that's the girl!"

"You just realized it?" He glanced over as Ritsu shifted in her bed.

"This is strange..." she reached up and started moving Ichigo's head around. "Ordinarily, no human would be able to see me..." Ichigo kicked her hand off of him.

"Quit talkin' that bullsh-" he kicked at the girl again, but she jumped over his leg and briefly landed on his head before jumping over him and landing on the other side.

"Damn you..." he said as he started to stand up.

"Very well. I shall tell you." she said when he was still sitting up, "I am a... shinigami."

"So basically you're a shinigami." Ichigo said. He was sitting on the floor leaning against the bed and the shinigami sat in front of him on top of her feet. The shinigami nodded. "And you came all the way from this place called _Soul Society_ to vanquish evil spirits?" She nodded again. "Which means that monster earlier was one of those evil spirits?" Once more, she nodded. "And it attacked that little girl?" For a final time, all she did was nod.

"Okay, I beli- NO WAY I'LL BELIEVE THAT, DUMBASS!" He yelled at her.

"Ichi-nii?" Ichigo looked over from where he had jumped up to see that Ritsu was sitting up.

"Sorry Ritsu. I didn't mean to wake you up."

"Who's that?" Ritsu asked.

"A burglar." Ichigo said, "A really, _really_ bad one."

"You fool!" she said, "You can see ghosts, but you refuse to believe in the existence of a Shinigami?"

"Of course!" Ichigo said as he turned back to her, "Sorry, but I've never ONCE seen a shinigami before. I don't believe in things I can't see." Ichigo turned to the doorway and flipped on the light. Since Ritsu was awake, there was no point in staying in the dark.

"You're seeing me right now."

Ritsu got out of bed and started to pack again.

"Ritsu!"

"Go talk to the shinigami. I won't leave before seven."

"Fine." he turned to the raven-haired girl. "I'll except that you ain't human. But go play shinigami somewhere else. Got that," he put a head on her head and pushed her back and forth, "you stupid brat?"

"You just had to say it..." she muttered, "Way of binding," she lifted one hand with two fingers up and the others folded down, " number one!" she pulled her hand sideways. "Sai!" Ichigo's arms were pulled behind his back and he fell, bending over himself, onto the floor.

"What the hell did you do?" he demanded from his position at her feet. He shook as he kept trying to get up.

"You can't move." she said matter-of-factly. "That's what's called _kido_. A noble magic that can only be used by a shinigami. Despite how young I look, I've lived nearly ten of your lifetimes."

"How can that be?" Ritsu asked. "You only look like you're sixteen or seventeen..."

"Our bodies age very slowly child." the shinigami answered her. The shinigami turned back to Ichigo.

"Normally, I would eliminate you for your insolence. But it just so happens that I'm forbidden to harm people I'm not ordered to. Be grateful. _Stupid brat._"

"You bitch!" Ichigo answered to her.

"Ichigo!" Ritsu threw in, "If you don't want me to join her side and beat you to a pulp, you better apologize, damn it!"

"Fine." Ichigo growled. "I'm sorry." Ritsu stomped on his back anyway and slapped him in the face.

"And while I'm here..." said the shinigami as she pulled out her sword. She brought it over her head and thin whipped it down, hitting the pommel of it against the forehead of a ghost next to him.

"Please no!" It was an elderly man with glasses. "I don't want to go to Hell."

The shinigami was smiling at him. "Do not be afraid." she said, "Your destination is not Hell. It is Soul Society. Unlike Hell, it's a relaxing place." The end of her sword began to glow and she removed it from his forehead. A blue light began to glow around the ghost and he dissolved away.

"What happened to that guy?" Ichigo asked. She put away her sword before answering.

"I sent him to Soul Society." She said, "In your language, you'd call it 'going to Heaven'. That's one of a shinigami's jobs. So that even a brash kid like you will be convinced, I'll be nice and draw it out for you." She looked up at Ritsu and smiled. "Make sure you pay attention too."

"M'kay." Ritsu answered. She stopped packing and sat on the floor next to Ichigo. The shinigami sat on Ritsu's bed. She reached into her black kimono between the first and second layer to pull out a few markers and a sketch book.

"In this world, there are two types of souls." Ichigo's eyebrows went up and Ritsu laughed as the shinigami showed them her first picture.

"The first is called a 'whole', the ordinary spirits." On one side of the page was a bunny with red and white hearts drawn on the background. "This is the kind you usually see. And the other is called Hollow." The other side of the page had a bear in the center with a black background with yellow lightening. "They attack the living and the dead indiscriminately and eat their souls. In other words, they're bad spirits. Do you have any questions so far?"

"Let's see," said Ichigo, "I'll start with why your drawings are so extremely bad."

"Ichigo!" Ritsu yelled. She smacked her brother on the back of his head as the shinigami drew a french mustache on his face.

"What the hell're you two doing?" he yelled.

"Her drawings are beautiful!" Ritsu said as Ichigo started wiggling. She whacked him in the back of his head again.

"I'll continue the explanation, your excellency Baron. We shinigami have two jobs. One is to leads wholes to Soul Society through the konso I just used." She showed a picture detailing what she described with bunnies. "And the other is to kill Hollows and purify them."

"Why was the hollow after that girl?" Ichigo asked.

"I do not know that." the shinigami answered. "Even we don't fully understand them."

From outside came the tinkling of glass breaking.

"Did you hear that?" the Kurosaki twins demanded at the same time.

"In any case," she continued as if she hadn't heard it, "it's certain that the second one is roaming this area.

"Then why don't you go after it so it won't go after her?" Ritsu demanded.

"Well," said the shinigami, "I don't know why, but recently, I haven't been able to sense its presence..." she trailed off, "...as if some massive power was blocking my senses."

"What the hell are you talking about?" shouted Ichigo.

"Can't you hear that roar?" Ritsu asked. She stood up and started to run out the door.

"Way of binding, number one! Sai!" Ritsu felt the tugging in her arms and legs before the soul reaper even finished the spell. She fell hard.

"Why the hell did you do that to Ritsu?" Ichigo yelled.

"Quiet fools." answered the shinigami, "I cannot have souls who can see running amok until I can get rid of it!"

"I can hear it right outside!" Ichigo said. "Go and get it!"

"You can... hear it?" Suddenly, the shinigami became aware of the blood-curdling roar from outside the window. "I hear it!" She jumped to her feet and put her hand on her sword. "No doubt! That's the hollow!"

"See!" Ichigo yelled at her, "We told you!" A scream came from downstairs.

"Yuzu..." Ritsu said quietly while Ichigo screamed.

"Yuzu!"

"Hey wait!" Ichigo yelled as the shinigami jumped over Ritsu and into the hallway.

A huge force fell over the shinigami and she fell to her knees. Her hair whipped all over the place and she knew there was no way she could stand up straight.

"What spiritual pressure!" she said to herself, partly awed, partly afraid, "I couldn't sense _this_? I..."

"Onii...chan!" The blonde haired girl came stumbling up the hallway to Ichigo and Ritsu's room. "Nii...san!" She fell down in front of their door.

"Yuzu!" The twins yelled at the same time.

"Karin-Chan! You must save... Karin-Chan!" Tears filled Yuzu's brown eyes.

"Hey dammit!" Ichigo yelled. Ritsu quietly forced herself onto her knees. Outside, another young girl was screaming. The shinigami dashed off. Ritsu made it to the door and rolled down the steps.

"Hey!" Ichigo shouted. No one answered him. He caterpillared his way to the steps and ungraciously threw himself down them, almost landing on Ritsu.

"Stay back!" the shinigami yelled at them.

"No fucking way!" Ritsu shouted. She made it to her feet with Ichigo close behind.

"They're moving even under Kido?" The shinigami was visibly shocked. "You're in my way!" she shouted as Ichigo staggered into her, "Move it!"

"Shut up!" they both yelled at her. Ritsu started pulling at her arms as Ichigo tried to stand up one hundred percent vertical.

"Don't!" she yelled at them, "Human strength could never break the kido! If you force it, your souls will..." she trailed off in amazement as both siblings managed to pull up the symbols of binding. A belt of symbols appeared around Ritsu's waist first and it snapped apart just as one appeared around Ichigo. His burst apart a moment later and Ritsu was running out a hole in their wall and knocked into the beast that was holding Karin. Ichigo had only a little more sense as he grabbed a chair and ran after her.

Ritsu was knocked away from the hollow and into the side of their house. Dust cleared around her and she stood up; barely. Ichigo fared better only in the sense that he didn't crash into a wall on the way to the ground.

"Karin..." Ritsu panted.

"I found you." the hollow whispered as it turned to Ichigo. Ritsu jumped at it again and managed to land on its back and deliver a stinging punch with her right arm before the hollow threw her off and into the house again. She hit the second story walls and fell hard into the ground. That time, she didn't stand up.

The hollow snatched at Ichigo and he jumped out of the way. The shinigami flew in and cut half-way through the hollow's arm. It screamed and dropped Karin.

"Karin!" Ichigo yelled as he threw himself forward to catch her. The hollow took a few steps back and dissolved into darkness.

"Karin!" Ichigo shouted, panicking, "Hey!"

"Don't panic!" the shinigami said briskly, "Your sisters' souls weren't eaten by him."

"Are you sure?" Ichigo asked her. She was standing in front of him with her sword at the ready.

"Yeah." she said. Off to the side, Ritsu was coughing up blood.

"He's seeking souls with high spiritual pressure." said the shinigami, "That's it... The Hollow from this afternoon wasn't after that girl.

"What do you..." Ichigo said.

"I don't know why... But until now, you and your sisters spiritual pressure was subdued to the lowest possible distribution rate. So I didn't sense anything from you two, and no hollows attacked you until now. It's just a guess, but the energy that couldn't flow out of your bodies... must have flowed out into the world when you two came in contact with that girl's ghost. In other words... those two Hollows followed the strength of your scent from that girl. They're all after you and your sister!"

"They're... after us..." The hollow came back from a black portal in front of them.

"It's here!" she yelled at them, "You go! Get your sis-"

"Shut up!" Ichigo said as he set down Karin and stood up.

"You're saying that girl was attacked because of me?"

"What are you getting at..." the shinigami said.

"It's MY fault that Ritsu, Karin, and Yuzu are almost dying?" Ichigo ran around the shinigami to in front of the hollow.

"Hey..." he said to the monster, "You want my soul don't you? THEN COME AND FIGHT ME FOR IT ONE ON ONE!" he yelled at the white masked figure. It let out another roar and then lunged. It seemed there was silence for a moment and then the loudest sound was the splattering of blood. It was coming from the shinigami who had leaped between him and the hollow.

The shinigami fought her way from out of the hollow's mouth and managed to cut out one of the hollow's teeth. IT reared back and roared as she fell to her knees. She then fell all the way down and blood seeped onto the pavement around her.

""Shinigami!" Ichigo yelled.

"You... fool..." she said to him, "You should already know that your strength is no match for that... Or did you think it would all end smoothly if you just gave it your soul?" She forced herself aa little off of the ground. "At this rate, we're all just waiting to be its prey." The hollow was roaring and holding its ugly hands over its face. The shinigami manged to get to her hands and knees as she got to a low wall. She dragged her sword with her and sat up against the wall.

"Do you want..." she panted, "To save your family?"

"Of course!" He answered her. By the house, Ritsu had woken up and was slowly crawling toward Ichigo and the shinigami. Actually, it was more dragging herself than crawling. She couldn't put any weight on her left leg.

"Dammit..." she cursed under her breath.

"Is there a way?" Ichigo asked the shinigami.

"There's only one..." she answered as she re-gripped her sword. She brought it up and pointed it toward Ichigo. "You... must become a shinigami."

"Huh?" Ichigo was shocked.

"Thrust this zanpactou through the core of your being... and I will pour my powers into you." The hollow roared again. "I don't know if this will work. But there isn't any other way." The hollow roared again and started to run toward them.

"Give me your blade," Ichigo said "Shinigami."

"I'm not 'shinigami'." she answered him. "I'm Kuchiki Rukia." The hollow started to run in earnest as Ichigo took the blade. Ritsu came up behind her brother and pulled herself to a shaky stand behind him.

"...Ichi...nii..." she murmured.

"I'm..." he said to Rukia, "Kurosaki Ichigo."

Ritsu stumbled up against Ichigo at the exact moment he thrust the sword through himself. She was impaled as well. A bright purple light came shining. It was really a soft pink light and a light blue light, but the pink took precedence over the blue and it shone farther. A moment later, the hollow was missing two arms.

Ichigo and Ritsu stood behind it, back to back.

"Sorry." he said to her quietly. Ichigo lifted a sword bigger than he was over his shoulder and Ritsu held a sword twice as big in her right hand. The both of them wore the same black kimonos as Rukia. They darted around the hollow at the same time.

"Impossible..." Rukia muttered. She looked down to discover her robes were white. There was dust everywhere. "I intended to only give half of my powers to the boy... Instead... the girl received some as well. As the dust cleared more, Rukia gaped at the size of Ichigo's zanpactou. When she saw Ritsu's, she nearly passed out.

"What ARE they? I've never seen humans with enough power to confuse a shinigami's senses. Nor have I seen humans who could break a kido... And I've definitely never seen shinigami's zanpactou become even near as big as Ichigo's, let alone the girl's..."

Ichigo leaped into action against the hollow with Ritsu right behind. He leaped at the hollow's feet while Ritsu, remembering what Rukia had done to the hollow earlier, leaped higher and cut down the center of its mask as Ichigo cut off its leg. A moment later, it dissolved into pieces.

Ichigo Kurosaki and Ritsu Masaki Kurosaki/ 15 years old

Hair color/ orange

Eye color/brown

Occupation/ high school student and also...

_**Shinigami**_

**AUTHOR'S END RAMBLINGS**

***indistinct cheering in background* *she's almost done!***

**Dashita: Tada! And that brings us to the end of the verry first Bleach episode! Enjoy the rest!**

_**BUTTON!**_

**l  
>V<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hi everyone! I'm back! This is my chapter for episode two! It mostly focuses on Rtsu and it starts contemplating their mom's death. I know it's really early, but sometimes introducing things earlier or later or something new, can help an OC adjust to a different world.**

"GOOOOOOOOOOOOOD !" shouted Isshin Kurosaki as he ambushed his eldest children's room. He flew in foot first to end pinned to the floor by a certain pissed teen in only her underclothes and to be smacked about the head by a certain boxer clad strawberry.

"Are you nuts?" demanded Ichigo, "What sort of freak just barges in and attacks his own children when they're only in their underwear?" Ichigo, realizing what Ritsu was wearing, turned bright red and yanked their father out of the room by his hair. Isshin was thrown bodily down the steps as Ichigo turned to the bathroom. He walked in and scrubbed his red face.

Ritsu finished getting dressed in her school uniform. She chose not to wear the jacket that day, so she ended up with a button up oxford shirt and the red bow tie that the girls were forced to wear.

"Stupid bow tie..." she muttered. She had gotten barely any sleep the night before and now her legs hurt because she had been growing again. Today would be one of those days that traumatized some kid into leaving her alone for YEARS. She just hoped it wouldn't be one of her friends.

"Ichigo!" she called down the hallway as she entered their school room for her bag, "You can get dressed now!" she shut the door as the strawberry boxers whipped into their room.

"Nice pants." she said gloomily as she headed downstairs. When she reached the bottom of the steps,Ritsu froze.

"Wait...wha...?" was all she managed. All she saw was the giant hole in the side of their kitchen wall. A moment later, the whole night came tumbling back to her.

"Oh no..." she fell to her knees as tears sprang to her eyes. "Wait, what happened to my injuries... and my... sword..." Ritsu just shook her head.

A few minutes later,all the Kurosakis were outside of their house and Isshin was going on and on about the hole. Ichigo was taking peeks at his sisters as if he couldn't believe all three of them were fine.

"It's a miracle!" Isshin was saying, "A truck plows right through our home in the middle of the night and none of us get so much as a single scratch!"

"What's more miraculous is that none of us even woke up when it happened..." Karin said gloomily.

_'I don't understand..._' Ichigo thought, memories of that night swirling around in his head, _'Their wounds are completely gone... They think that a truck did this...? Could this have the the work of that shinigami? Am I the only one who knows what really happened?'_ Around him, Ichigo's family started to walk back inside.

"Ichigo! Ritsu!" Yuzu called, "You better hurry up and come eat breakfast or you'll be late for school!"

"M'kay Yuzu-chan!" Ritsu said, "We'll just be another minute."

"Okay, but it better only be a minute!" she dashed off inside to start cleaning their kitchen.

"Ichigo?" Ritsu said under her breath, "What do you remember about last night?"

"What?" Ichigo said before realizing what she meant. "Oh, do you remember-"

"-the shinigami?" she finished for him. "Yeah, I do. Let's go." Ritsu walked into the house and Ichigo followed.

When Ritsu and Ichigo finally made it to school, it was only for Ichigo to knock over Orihime, who was walking with Tatsuki, her first best friend.

"Orihime-chan!" Ritsu and Tatsuki said together. Ritsu darted around her brother so she could help up her friend while her other friend went off on her brother.

"Oh hey, it's you Orihime."

"Ichigo!" demanded Tatsuki, "You knock her down and that's all you can say? What's the matter with you?"

"Uhh... Sorry about that..." Ichigo said to Orihime, "Are you gonna be okay?"

"Uh huh." Orihime said.

"Are you sure? DO you want me to walk you to your next class?"

"Oh no!" she protested, "I-I-I have v-v-volleyball! Volleyball! That's right! See ya!" Orihime ran off toward the gym.

"Orihime!" Tatsuki yelled.

"What's the matter with her?" Ichigo asked Tatsuki.

"I don't know, maybe it was your ugly mug!" Tatsuki teased him, "By the way, why are you guys so late? It's time for lunch already."

"Eh, don't worry about it. I'll tell you later." Ichigo walked off and Ritsu stayed with Tatsuki.

"We had to clean up this morning because a truck crashed into our house in the middle of the night."

"A truck?" Tatsuki exclaimed. "Is everyone-" she cut herself off and looked at Ritsu closely. "Are you having one of _those days_ again?" When Ritsu didn't answer, she cut herself off. "I'll warn our friends to steer clear." Tatsuki walked off, leaving Ritsu by herself. Ritsu went up to the roof to find her twin. Unfortunately to the group of fresh men she found up there, he wasn't.

"Damn it!" she cursed and punched the roof. She left an indent there and then went and kicked the freshmen who couldn't tell her where Ichigo was.

Ritsu, feeling even more sour now that someone was hurt because of her, went down stairs and slammed into her classroom to find Ichigo surrounded by a group of friends. Ritsu froze in the doorway when the shinigami appeared. Behind her, someone walked into her frozen form.

"Move it, will ya?" Ritsu turned around with a backhand to find her blow connect to Tatsuki''s jaw.

"Ow!" Tatsuki said, "What the hell was tha-" Then she realized who had slapped her. "Oh. Sorry." Tatsuki turned and ran. When Ritsu turned back around, it was to find Ichigo running at her with the shinigami in tow.

"Move." Ichigo said. Ritsu just moved slightly out of he way and Ichigo froze for a moment. "Oh crap." was all he said. "One of _those days_ again." He then proceeded out to the courtyard with two girls following him. When he got there, it was to turn and reprimand the shinigami.

"All right, ya freaky little nut job, what the hell do you think you're doing?" A vein was pulsing in the corner of his temple. Ritsu smacked the back of his head.

"Her name is Kuchiki-san you idiot." she said quietly.

"What the hell is up with you today?" he demanded, only to be kicked in his precious spot. "Oooo..." was all he could say after that.

"How scary you big brute!" Rukia, the shinigami, said as Ichigo was twitching in pain, "Jeepers, you're not gonna hurt me are you?" Rukia stood a few feet away and was playing the innocent act.

"You know he's not going to hurt you the way he is now. If anyone is going to hurt you today, it'll be me. So drop the bullshit."

"Well I think the 'bullshit' is pretty good considering I learned it over night."

"Forget it!" Ichigo said as he sorely struggled his way to his feet, "Weren't you supposed to be on your way back to your Soul Society place or whatever?"

"I can't." Rukia said, dropping her act, "Only soul reapers are permitted to go back to the Soul Society." Rukia touched her throat. "I no longer have the ability to return."

"Was it because of last night?" Ritsu said quietly.

Rukia nodded, "Last night I mean to only give half of my powers to your brother, but you interrupted the process when you were impaled as well. Thanks to you two, for the time being, I'm stuck in this ridiculous gigai form."

"Gigai?" the twins questioned together.

"It's a temporary body that serves as a vessel in case of an emergency. If a soul reaper is drastically weakened, they remain inside of a gigai until their powers come back." she informed them.

"Now I get it," Ichigo said, "So that's why the others were able to see you before, right?"

"Precisely." she answered him. "And so..." Rukia paused for a moment, "Until all of my powers come back, it is up to you Ichigo and Ritsu to perform my duties as a Shinigami!" The question marks around Ichigo's head were almost visible and Ritsu's angry expression only got slightly darker. "It's only natural! You both now posses the strength of a shinigami! You do not have the right to refuse your callin-"

"No way!" Ichigo interrupted her, putting his hands up in an 'X' in front of him as though that would hold her words at bay.

"What?" Rukia asked, slightly shocked.

"No way!" Ichigo replied, "My monster fighting days are over!"

"What?" Rukia asked again, "You did just fine yesterday-"

"That was only because my family was in danger. Sorry to disappoint you." Ichigo turned and walked away. Rukia turned to Ritsu.

"What about you?" she asked quietly. Ritsu almost vanished into thin air she was so fast at getting away from the shinigami.

"I see." was Rukia's only reply. She reached into her skirt pocket and removed a red glove with a skull on the back. She pulled on the fingerless article and jumped toward Ichigo. Her hand collided with his face as he turned and he was forced out of his body. As the school uniform clad Ichigo collapsed and became unresponsive, the other black robe clad Ichigo faced his body in dismay.

"Ah crap!" the robe clad Ichigo cried, "What happened to my body?" he looked at his hands in panic. "What in the world did you do to me?" Rukia, calm as ever, started to leave.

"Follow me." she said quietly.

As Ritsu watched from a shadowed corner, she felt her temper start to rise even higher. Worried she would lose it completely, she went in search of Tatsuki to blow some steam. She burst into their classroom at high speed as her vision started to go hazy at the edges.

"Come on." she grabbed her friend by the back of her collar from the middle of a group of people. A red head started to go after Ritsu, but the girl ended up with a bloody nose.

"Ritsu?" Tatsuki asked her friend, "What is i-"

"-Shut up." Tatsuki recognized the tone in her friends voice and tensed in fear.

_'NO!'_ she thought mentally. She loved her friend, but when she had one of _those days_ and someone did something that would piss her off on a normal day, her friend was capable of murder. Those were the times that Tatsuki could be beaten.

Ritsu dragged Tatsuki alll the way up to the roof and then flew at her.

"Ritsu-kun!" came a voice from the stair way. Orihime arrived just in time to see Ritsu give a good hard blow to Tatsuki's jaw. "Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime cried in horror. She hadn't seen the worst yet though. Tatsuki punched Ritsu back and delivered a heavy push kick to her stomach. Ritsu retaliated with a spin kick to Tatsuki's head. Tatsuki recovered quickly and knocked Ritsu's legs out from under her.

The dojo champion pinned Ritsu to the ground and knocked her out with a bunch of whacks to her head.

"Tatsuki-chan!" Orihime said, "What happened? Why did Ritsu-chan punch you? Why did you knock her out? What's going on?" Tears were pouring down her cheeks.

"She was having one of _those days_." Tatsuki told Orihime.

"But even during a day like that, she wouldn't punch you unless you did something and you're smart enough not to do anything to her!"

"It was someone else Orihime. Probably something Ichigo did. Will you help me take her to the nurse?"

"Y-yeah... Why wouldn't I?" Orihime ran over to Ritsu and gently lifted her feet. Tatsuki lifted her shoulders and the two carried Ritsu down two flights of stairs to the nurses office. A bruise was already appearing on Tatsuki's cheek.

"Ummm... Can you call Kurosaki-san's dad?" Tatsuki said.

"What happened?" exclaimed the slightly pudgy woman.

"Ummm... we had a fight..." Tatsuki muttered. The woman's eyes grew wide. She knew of Tatsuki's fighting abilities. Anyone who could give Tatsuki a blow to the jaw like that was an incredible fighter indeed.

"Oh..." the woman sighed. "...Kurosaki... Kurosaki... Where have I heard that name before...?" she mused aloud. "Oh! I know. Is this girl related to Kurosaki Ichigo?" Orihime and Tatsuki looked at each other.

"She's his twin. Kurosaki Ritsu." Tatsuki said.

"Oh. Usually I get the other end of Kurosaki related violence." The woman smiled. "Okay, I'll call Kurosaki-san now. I just hope he's not busy..."

The woman went back to her desk in the corner and picked up the phone. She looked in one of her drawers and pulled out Ritsu's contact information. She dialed Isshin's work number and waited a few seconds until he picked up.

"_Hello! This is the Kurosaki Medic Center! How may I help you?"_

"Hello, this is the nurse at Karakura High. I have your daughter here-"

"_My daughter? Which one? Ritsu, Yuzu, or Karin?"_

"I have Kurosaki Ritsu here on my bed. She is currently unconscious, but-"

_"Unconscious? What happened?"_

"She got in a fight with another student, but she should wake up in another few minutes. Could you come and pick her up?"  
><em>"I'll be there in ten minutes."<em> Isshin hunng up and the nurse gently lowered her phone and turned to Tatsuki and Orihime.

"Inue-san, you may go or you may stay until Kurosaki-san wakes up."

"I-I'll stay!" Orihime said, worry evident in her tone.

"Arisawa-san, come here and I'll take care of your jaw..."

Ritsu was dreaming of a day she would rather wipe away from her memory. It was raining and she was wearing a bright yellow rain-coat while her mom wore a floral skirt and a light purple shirt which she protected with an umbrealla. Ritsu was walking in the edge of the street and was splashing through the gutter. Her mom saw a car coming and yanked her up onto the side-walk.

"Why don't you let me walk next to the street sweety?" she asked Ritsu.

"But Mommy," Ritsu protested, "I'm the one wearing the rain coat! If you walked next to the street, your pretty outfit will get all dirty!" Her mom just shook her head and firmly moved Ritsu toward the side away from the street.

"It sure is rainy Mommy!" Ritsu said as they plowed down the side-walk. "Why is rain so wet?" She looked up at her mom to see a smile at her silly question. Ritsu let go of her mom's hand and started to pretend she was on a balance beam.

They were walking towards the bridge that was crossing the river when Ritsu slipped. She started to slide toward the river over the wet pavement.

"Mommy!" Ritsu yelled. Her momentum carried her and she started rolling towards the water.

"Ritsu!" her mother shouted. Ritsu bumped her head really hard and felt her lose tooth fall out. Everything got really hazy as something grabbed her ankle.

"Oowww..." Ritsu cried. Suddenly, she burst into tears. She looked down at her ankle to see a very pale faced Mommy holding her a few feet above the water edge.

"Mommy!" she cried. Her mommy pulled her away from the water and hugged her tightly.

"I'm so glad..." panted her mommy "that I caught you... I thought that... I was going to... to lose you..." Silent tears rolled down her face. Ritsu couldn't tell though due to the fact that it was raining.

Ritsu and her mommy made their way back up to the side walk and her mommy's face was still really pale. Ritsu didn't notice though. She pulled her tooth out of her mouth and showed her mom.

"Look Mommy! I lost my tooth!" Her mother smiled down at her giggling little seven year old.

"Come on Ritsu." she said, "We'll leave it for the tooth fairy when we get home. For now, let's go get your brother." Her mother smiled down at her as they walked to the dojo.

Tatsuki sat very still while the nurse applied a cream to where the bruise was starting to form.

"...Mommy..." Ritsu muttered, "...Mommy..." Her voice kept getting louder. Orihime and Tatsuki exchanged looks again. "Mommy... Mommy... Mommy! Mommy! MOMMY!" Ritsu sat bolt upright from the bead in the nurses office. She was panting heavily as she looked around, eyes wild and hair tangled.

"No! Don't... Ichi-nii... the girl..." Ritsu trailed off as she realized she wasn't wherever she had been dreaming. "What? Where... Where are we?" she asked Orihime, confused at the unfamiliar surroundings.

"You're in the nurses office Ritsu-kun." Orihime replied, wary of her friend's outburst. "Are you okay? How's your head? Why were you fighting with Tatsuki-chan? What were you dreaming about just now? Wh-"

"Be quiet Orihime." Ritsu said quietly.

"Inue-san?" said the nurse, "Do you want to go see if Kurosaki-san is here yet?"

"Uhhh... sure! No problem!" Orihime said. She got up off of the end of the bed and left the nurses office.

The nurse turned to Ritsu.

"How are you feeling dear?" Ritsu didn't answer her as silent tears began to fall down her cheeks. "I called for your father to come and pick you up. Do you need anything?" Ritsu still didn't answer.

"I'm in her class." said Tatsuki, "I can go get her stuff." Tatsuki stood up and walked out of the office. A few minutes later, Orihime, Isshin, and Tatsuki almost collided outside of the nurses office. Isshin looked at Tatsuki's bandage on her jaw.

"One of _those days_ again?" was all he had to say. Tatsuki and Orihime nodded. Isshin took Ritsu's stuff from Tatsuki and brought Ritsu outside to his car. They drove home in silence.

"Come on kiddo." Isshin said to Ritsu. He guided her to her room and tucked her in bed.

"Get some rest. You can tell me all about it later." Ritsu rolled over in bed and wiped her eyes as she sighed and fell asleep.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**See! This chapter really focused on Ritsu. I'm sorry about Ritsu's eratic personality, but you have to give at least seven or eight chapters before she'll really solidify! So... Pretty please review! I know I love writing this stuff, but I really only get reviews from one person! Her name is 'daydreamor1008' and she is great for tossing around ideas with. I know there are other people who ocassionally leave reviews and I appreciate every last one and I really don't want to seem ungrateful, but I would really like a little more feedback even if it's just a smiley face in a review! It could be a frowny face too, but then I would like a little explanation... Actually, explanation is good either way. Anywho, please let me know in some matter whether or not you like my story!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Okay people, I'm really glad that at least three people have reviewed this story! Thank you daydreamer1008, Kaiser969, and Revolation. These three people are the only ones who have reviewed so far, so I'm sending a great big thank you to those three specifically!**

**Ichigo: Just get on with the story already Dammit!**

**Dashita: *holds up wrench***

**Ichigo: On second thought... *feels spot where skull cracked from last chapter* Never mind...**

**Ritsu: Dashita Tichou does not in anyway own Bleach and so far, I'm her only OC in this madness here.**

When Ritsu woke up, it was to set off in search of Rukia.

"Kuchiki-san!" she called over and over to the empty streets. "Kuchiki-san!" When Ritsu finally found the raven haired shinigami, it was to discover Rukia and her brother walking away from Orihime.

"Kuchiki-san!" Ritsu waved to get her attention.

"Ritsu?" Rukia answered, "What happen-" She was cut off by Ichigo's hand. He stepped forward and glared at Ritsu.

"Idiot." Ritsu hung her head. "Are you okay?" She nodded and turned back to Rukia.

"Ummm..." she started hesitantly, "I feel bad about earlier and... I really want to help protect souls but I had a really shitty day today!" Ritsu almost shouted the last part. "I was wondering... could you... train me?" Her voice broke on the last word. Rukia was visibly shocked.

"No." she said shortly.

"But I-"

"I said that I wouldn't train you, not that you couldn't be trained. There's an old college of mine that can help you. I'll introduce you if you want."

"Thank you!"

Rukia turned to Ichigo.

"Stay here. I'll be back soon." Rukia took off with Ritsu close after. They ran through the nice part of town and quickly got into the shadier part. Rukia shot a questioning look at Ritsu.

"What happened to you? Why'd you leave after lunch time?" She was deeply troubled by Ritsu's emotional switch-up.

"I..." Ritsu hesitated , "Every now and then I have really terrible days and when somebody really pisses me off on one of _those days_ I could probably kill them. I remember once, a couple years ago..." Ritsu's voice got shaky, "Someone ended up in the hospital..."

Rukia's eyes grew wide as she turned back to where they were going.

"We're here." Rukia said as she slowed to a walk in front of a crappy store. "Come on." she said to a reluctant Ritsu. In front of the store was a red-headed kid sweeping the stairs. He was vehemently cursing someone named 'Tessai'. Next to him was a frail dark haired girl.

"Jinta!" the girl said quietly, "You shouldn't be talking about Tessai-san like that!"

"Yeah?" said Jinta meanly, "So what if I am? I can talk about Tessai however I want to Ururu!" He then proceeded to take the girl's long bangs and pull on them.

"Ow!" Ururu cried out, "Jinta, you're hurting me! Ow!" Just then, a large man with braided black hair came out of the shop.

"Jinta! Ururu! Can't you see that we have customers?"

"Yeah?" Jinta said again, "So what if we do?" The large man loomed closer and Jinta let go of Ururu's bangs quickly and backed away. "I mean..." he turned to Rukia and Ritsu. "Hello ma'ams. Welcome to Urahara's candy shop! How may I help you?" Jinta bowed low with the large man standing behind him. When Jinta stood back up, he pointed an accusing finger at Rukia.

"You're that Shinigami!"

"Yeah," said Rukia "and I'm here to see Kisuke." The large man in the doorway pushed Jinta out of the way and bowed.

"Of course Miss Kuchiki-san! Urahara-san will see you right away. May I ask," he gestured toward Ritsu, "Who your friend is?"

"Just a friend Tessai."

"But... is she a shinigami?" Tessai asked.

"No!" said Ritsu forcefully, then, looking ashamed she said, "N-no, I'm only human..." Tessai looked at her in shock.

"But... such reatisu..."

"Tessai-san, we need to speak to Kisuke."

"Of course Miss Kuchiki-san! Right away!" Tessai turned around and walked into the shop. "Follow me!" He called to them. After giving Jinta an uneasy look, Ritsu followed Rukia after Tessai into the dark entrance.

At first, there was an ordinary shop. Then Tessai walked into a doorway behind the counter. He led them through a regular hallway and opened the sliding door at the end.

"Urahara-san!" Tessai said into the doorway, "We have customers!"

"Well then Tessai," came a lazy voice from in the room, "Why don't you show them in?" Tessai moved aside and gestured for the two girls to enter the room. Ritsu was shocked at the sight that met her eyes.

Laying on the floor was a blonde-haired man with a green and white vertical stripped hat and green trousers. On his feet was traditional Japanese wooden sandals. He sat up slightly and propped himself up on an elbow.

"So ladies," he said, a hint of gleaming eyes peering out from under his hat, "just how may I be of service?"

"I need your help with her." Rukia said, jerking a thumb toward Ritsu.

"How so?"

"Don't play stupid. I know you can feel her reatisu."

"Oh," he said as he leaned up farther, "I can feel it alright. It's the reason I'm not standing."

"It's not _that_ bad and you know it."

"Oh my friend, but it is that bad. Or at least," he grinned and lifted a cane with a skull on the tip, "it will be when I'm through with her."

"Good." Rukia turned to Ritsu.

"Make sure you do what he tells you, no matter how ridiculous it is. It might just mean the difference between a soul's after life or becoming a hollow."

Ritsu nodded as Rukia turned and left the shop. As she turned back to look at Ritsu, she was hit in the center of the forehead with Urahara's cane. She popped out of her body without a problem and only looked at her lifeless form on the floor for a moment before turning to Urahara.

"So what do we do know?"

"Good question Kurosaki-san."

"How'd you know-" Ritsu stopped and just shook her head. "Never mind. So what's first on your agenda?" Urahara stood up and lifted the brim of his hat just a touch.

"First things first," he started, "We find out how long you can withstand attack."

"Eh?" Ritsu said, confused.

"If you're going to fight for a long period of time or even against a stronger opponent, you're going to have to have great stamina and strength. To find out how much you have already have, we're going to have to subject you to a constant barrage of blows of various strength and speed. In other words-"

"-You'll have me going until I can go no more."

"Exactly." He turned towards the door and stood up all the way. "Let's go."

Hours later revealed Ritsu finally slowing down as she dodged kido after kido shot from Tessai in an underground training area under Urahara's shop. After a few minutes, a timer beeped and Urahara closely followed one of Tessai's kidos and proceeded to start swinging blow after blow at Ritsu's sword. One blow came particularly close to her face and Ritsu, finally fed up with dodging and guarding the constant barrage of attacks, swung her sword at Urahara. He smiled wickedly and lifted his sword higher than before.

"Awaken Benihime!" Ritsu stiffened and immediately flitted away as fast as she could. Urahara easily kept up with her and swung down his sword. "Nake, Benihime." As he swung down his sword, a crimson blast of light hit Ritsu square in the chest. She had partially lifted her zanpactou, but it was knocked out of the way. She was blown backwards until she slammed into a mountain like formation. Coughing, she decided to try something that Tessai had done.

"It can't anymore than another one of those swings can..." she muttered as she coughed up blood.

She held out her hands in front of her and folded all but her first and middle fingers on each hand. Shakily, she pulled herself to her feet even as Kisuke came closer with his sword raised again. She pointed her fingers at Urahara and started to speak

"Hakudo four..." she coughed again, "Byakurai..." A pale strip of lightening burst out of her fingers and blew Urahara away from Ritsu. Unfortunately for Ritsu, she was blown backwards again through the mountain formation. She coughed and then started to spasm. Her frail form had landed on a sharp stalactite and it had punctured through her chest and into her lung.

Ritsu's unconscious body jerked and spasmed as blood filled up her lungs. She began to choke as her blood filled her airways. Tessai quickly ran over to her and stated the process of a healing kido. He cleared Ritsu lungs and then proceeded to remove her top so he could get a good look at the puncture. Luckily for her, it was a clean stab and had no jagged edges. This was good, because scarred tissue would be minimal and her lungs would heal fully.

"Well now," came Urahara's voice from behind Tessai, "That was definitely more powerful than I thought it would be. She was actually able to blow me away. Too bad she hurt herself in the process. We'll work on that when she can continue." An evil glint appeared in his eyes. "That means there'll be something to contend with when they come.

When Ritsu finally woke up, she had been unconscious for quite a few days. For five days would be exact. She sat bolt upright only to cringe in pain. Such a severe injury took at least a week to recover from; even with a kido's full abilities.

A gentle but firm hand pushed Ritsu back down.

"Kurosaki-san! You shouldn't be up yet! You're still injured!" Ritsu fell back down on the bed and saw the giant man from before that lead her into the shop.

"You're... Tessai-san... right?" she asked hesitantly.

"Mhm." Tessai nodded.

"What... happened?" she asked, feeling the pain in her back.

"You fell on a stalactite during your training."

"Was I... out for long?"

"Four days."

"Wha...? What the heck? Four days? I was out for four days?" Tessai nodded. Outside, Ritsu could hear Jinta and Ururu arguing.

"Shut up, Ururu!" shouted Jinta, "I'll start when I'm ready! Tessai doesn't scare me!

"But," said Ururu, "You were scared enough to sweep in the first place!"

"I don't get scared! Who do you think you are? You're not the boss of me!"

"Ah!" yelled Ururu.

"I'm in charge cause I'm bigger than you!" Jinta shouted meanly.

"You're the same size!" cried Ururu, "Besides, Jinta, I'm three years older than you are!"

"So!" Jinta yelled at Ururu, "Who cares about age? I'm a higher rank than you!"

"You're a bigger brat than her, that's for sure." muttered Ritsu under her breath.

"Who're you?" Jinta yelled, "Wait a sec, you're that shinigami again!"

"You just never change, do you little one? So is your manager in yet?" a voice asked as Jinta told them to come in. Ritsu recognized the voice. It was...

"Rukia!" Ritsu shouted, only to groan and collapse again.

"Ritsu?" Rukia asked.

"In here!" Ritsu answered. Rukia ran into the room Ritsu was laying in.

"What happened?" she asked, shocked at Ritsu's state.

"She was injured during the training." said Tessai from behind Rukia, "She'll be up and training again in about two days. In the meantime, she is to resume normal activities. Please wait here for a moment, I'll go see if the boss is up and moving yet."

Behind Tessai, Ritsu could see Urahara coming down the hallway yawning.

"Eh," he muttered, "don't bother. I'm already awake for once..." he let out a huge yawn. "Morning Tessai, Kurosaki-san," he raised his voice, "Morning Jinta, Ururu! ...Welcome back to my shop Kuchiki-san. You're timing couldn't be more perfect. I just got a new shipment the other day. How can I help you this afternoon-"

"It's morning!" Ritsu yelled as she tried to push herself up a little. She cringed again at the weird angle and fell back down on her pallet. Urahara turned and looked at her as if he'd only just seen her for the first time.

"Go to school." he turned back to Rukia. "One kikonshiki..." his voice trailed off as he led Rukia to another room.

"_Can_ I go to school?" Ritsu asked Tessai as he adjusted his glasses.

"Well, as long as you avoid any hard physical activity, I don't see why not." Ritsu nodded at his sensible words.

The accident had, after all, occurred when she was in her body. Urahara had wanted to know what her physical body's limits were first. After he had separated her, he watched her re-insert herself into her body and then handed her a katana as they'd gone down to his underground training area to start training.

:Can I go home and get my uniform first?" she asked.

"Yes. If Kuchiki-san accompanies you."

"Okay." A moment later, Rukia re-entered the room.

"You coming?" she asked Ritsu.

"We have to get my uni-" Rukia cut her off.

"No need." Rukia held up a plastic bag. "I brought it with me."

"Tanks," said Ritsu, "Could you... could you help me up?" Rukia walked over to her and helped hoist Ritsu to her feet. Once she was standing, her back didn't hurt as much. She changed into her uniform and Rukia began the long walk to school with her.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS  
><strong>**Yeah,yeah,yeah! I know I shouldn't have had Ritsu injured to that degree but big load of whoop. If you fall on a stalactite that pierces your lung, regular humans would die so hah! I win on that front! (Maybe...) PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! I KNOW MORE THAN THREE PEOPLE ARE READING THIS STORY BECAUSE IN THE LAST FOUR DAYS AND ONLY ON CHAPTER THREE, 103 PEOPLE HAVE LOOKED AT MY THAT CHAPTER! If your keyboard is being screwy or something, I don't care, but I know that 100 people who looked at chapter three don't all have broken keyb-boards. Seriously, leave something! It could just be an 'O' for all I care!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey everybody! It's me again! (well, it's obviously me or this wouldn't be on Ritsu Kurosaki would it?) I'm going on vacation this week and then I'm busy with other stuff for the next month, so I won't be available to the general public via the use of internet! I'm sorry, but that's the truth. I will work on my stories though, and I will try to post another update on The Road to Remembrence tonight so you guys can read that. If I don't get it out though, I apologize.**

**Chapter Five**

On the way to school, Ritsu started breathing really hard.

"Are you okay?" Rukia asked the orange haired girl.

"Y...yeah..." Ritsu gasped out. She was leaning heavily on Rukia. "I... I'm fine..."

"No," Rukia said to her, "You're not. I'm taking you back to Kisuke's."

"No!" Ritsu protested, "I... wanna go... to school..."

"Too bad. We're going to Kisuke's." Rukia turned around and saw the red blood dripping to the ground. "Ritsu!" she said, shocked at her condition. Ritsu smiled at Rukia, but a whimper escaped her lips as she tripped. "Come on." Rukia said to her. The girls headed back to Kisuke's, Ritsu getting weaker the whole time. When they finally reached the shop, there was no one to be seen.

"Tessai!" Rukia yelled, "Get out here!" Tessai emerged, saw Ritsu, and ran up to Rukia.

"Give her to me." he said. Rukia handed Ritsu's almost unconscious form to Tessai just as she fully lost consciousness.

The next day around 3 am, Ritsu woke up. Her eyes flickered first and then she sat up suddenly.

"Oohhh..." she groaned. She fell back on pillows and she opened her eyes. "What...day... is it...?" She moaned aloud. A moment later Tessai answered her.

"June 17th." he told her.

"I need to go home!" she yelled at the top of her lungs,"I don't care if you have to put me in a gi- whatsits, but I need to go home now!" Ritsu practically screamed at Tessai. Tears began to whelm up in the corners of her eyes as her wound pulled her skin. She softly layed back down. "Please!"She whimpered.

Tessai was rather shocked at her outburst because Ritsu was normally so well behaved.

"Of course Kurosaki-san." He said with a slight bow. Ritsu just nodded as he helped her to stand, half leaning her on a nearby table. Just then, Urahara came in and swung his stick through her forehead. Her body collapsed as her soul pulled free. She looked down at herself, slightly in shock that her body was just laying there. Tessai picked her up and layed her down. Then Urahara tapped her shoulder.

"Now," he said, a slight sheen of red hovering over his one showing eye, "If you just come with me Miss Kurosaki-san, we'll get you situated into a new body." Ritsu followed him out of the room and down a hallway. At the end was a narrow door.

"This way." he said, waving her in first. Ritsu walked in and gasped in shock. In front of her was a room lined with refrigerators and inside each one was a pale human body. Each had barely recognizable facial proportions and none of them were either male or female. Tears laced her eyes and she fell to her knees. Urahara came up next to her and pulled her to her feet.

"Go pick one." he said brusquely.

"What?" she turned her head to look at him.

"Go pick one." he said again. He gave her a little push and she stumbled into the room. She went about halfway down one of the rows before she felt anything weird. There wasn't anything different about this pale form than the rest of them, yet...

"This one." she said aloud. Urahara nodded and followed her to it. He grabbed her wrist and placed it on the pad next to the window in the fridge. Immediately, the body began to change. The face proportions changed and the limbs grew longer. It sprouted hair that turned bright orange. Then the fridge popped open and another Ritsu fell out onto the ground.

"This is so freaky..." Ritsu gasped out. Her arms and shinigami robes were dissolving into bits that were going into the fake Ritsu. Urahara touched Ritsu's back and then slammed her down into it. She pulled back, but her momentum was too much too stop and she fell into the dummy.

Her first sensation was cold. Bone gripping, heart stopping cold. Next, the sense of touch returned to her. She was laying on something really hard and flat. She opened her eyes and then realized where she was. She was in the dummy!

"Ura... hara..." she croaked out of her raw throat, "Help... me..." She felt an arm go around her waist and she was hauled to her feet. Then she realized she was naked. "Get me... clothes too..." she moaned. He helped her to another room and layed her down. A moment later, she was handed a bundle of clothes. She looked at them and then, without even caring that they were quite different from her normal outfit, she slid them on.

She stood up about a minute later, a little wobbly, but up all the same. She slid on the simple flip flops in front of her and started walking. "I'll be back." She said quietly. With that, she ran. She ran and she ran as tears slid down her cheeks.

"...Mom..." she whispered out broken heatedly. That day six years ago played out in her head.

It was raining and Ritsu was wearing a bright yellow rain-coat while her mom wore a floral skirt and a light purple shirt which she protected with an umbrealla. Ritsu was walking in the edge of the street and was splashing through the gutter. Her mom saw a car coming and yanked her up onto the side-walk.

"Why don't you let me walk next to the street sweety?" she asked Ritsu.

"But Mommy," Ritsu protested, "I'm the one wearing the rain coat! If you walked next to the street, your pretty outfit will get all dirty!" Her mom just shook her head and firmly moved Ritsu toward the side away from the street.

"It sure is rainy Mommy!" Ritsu said as they plowed down the side-walk. "Why is rain so wet?" She looked up at her mom to see a smile at her silly question. Ritsu let go of her mom's hand and started to pretend she was on a balance beam.

They were walking towards the bridge that was crossing the river when Ritsu slipped. She started to slide toward the river over the wet pavement.

"Mommy!" Ritsu yelled. Her momentum carried her and she started rolling towards the water.

"Ritsu!" her mother shouted. Ritsu bumped her head really hard and felt her lose tooth fall out. Everything got really hazy as something grabbed her ankle.

"Oowww..." Ritsu cried. Suddenly, she burst into tears. She looked down at her ankle to see a very pale faced Mommy holding her a few feet above the water edge.

"Mommy!" she cried. Her mommy pulled her away from the water and hugged her tightly.

"I'm so glad..." panted her mommy "that I caught you... I thought that... I was going to... to lose you..." Silent tears rolled down her face. Ritsu couldn't tell though due to the fact that it was raining.

Ritsu and her mommy made their way back up to the side walk and her mommy's face was still really pale. Ritsu didn't notice though. She pulled her tooth out of her mouth and showed her mom.

"Look Mommy! I lost my tooth!" Her mother smiled down at her giggling little seven year old.

"Come on Ritsu." she said, "We'll leave it for the tooth fairy when we get home. For now, let's go get your brother." Her mother smiled down at her as they walked to the dojo.

Ritsu chattered on about how Ichigo would be crying when they got there while her mother limped along next to her. When they did get there, Ichigo _was_ crying. Ritsu smiled and teased him about it. She waved to the girl who beat her brother and then walked away w/ Ichigo and their mom.

"How many times did you cry this time?: she teased him as she took one of their mom's hands.

"I wasn't crying!" he whined at her. He put on his rain coat and took their mom's other hand. Then they went outside and started to walk home. Neither of them noticed the limp in their mother's step.

They went all the way past the bridge before anything happened.

"No!" Ritsu screamed out of the blue. She tore out of her mother's grip and ran towards the river. Ichigo was quick to follow and their mom was only a little ways behind him.

"Don't jump!" Ritsu screamed. Ichigo saw the girl on the bank and also screamed along with Ritsu.

"No! Don't!" Ritsu was running as fast as she could when her foot slipped. She started summer salting down the cement and bumped her head again and again.

When she reached the girl, tears fell down her cheeks.

"...no..." She thought she was going to knock the girl in after all. Then she hit her. OR more accurately, she went through her. Then she fell into the water.

Everything went fuzzy around the edges of her vision as she opened her eyes under the water. She kicked really hard, struggling to get to the surface, but the roaring waters beat her down. She struggled hard one last time before the black at the edges of her vision swallowed her.

What brought Ritsu out of her thoughts was a careless driver losing control of its car in front of her.

"Damn it!" She cursed. She dashed to the side, certain that she was going to be hit. Her limits were well known to her and she was sure this was outside of them. That was right before she got out of the way with plenty of time to spare. Her shock was written right across her face in the pale street light.

"How in the hell...?" she wondered aloud. Then she looked down and saw what she was wearing. "What the hell?" She shook her head as she saw a flowing red dress. It started at the top with a halter top and v-neck. Then it clung tight to her torso and kicked out at her waist. She ran a hand along it and it felt like silk. It had a layered skirt that reached to right above her knees. She shook her head again and kept running.

"It must have something to do with me being in a giga whatsits. Stupid Urahara..." she muttered under her breath. She was running more than twice as fast as what she knew her limits were and she sensed that she could go even faster.

Ritsu kept running until she made it to her house. When she got there, it was about 3:30 am. She climbed up a gutter near the window to her room and quietly slid it open. Ichigo was out cold on his head, hands in fists and his blankets tangled around his leggs. His hair was plastered to his forehead by sweat. She went over and pushed his bangs back.

"Mom..." he whispered, teeth clenched. Ritsu watched in mute horror as tears started to drip down his cheeks. "Ritsu..." he managed next. At that, Ritsu turned away and went to her dresser. Then she heard a door open behind her.

"Kurosaki-san." Ritsu turned to see Rukia.

"Kuchiki-san." she acknowledged.

"They've been worried about you. Do you want me to use the memory replacement so they'll think you went on a trip?" Ritsu just nodded and then grabbed her pjs out of her dresser.

"I'll go do it now." Rukia said. She walked out of the room and Ritsu heard three pops from around the house while she was changing into her pjs. She was folding her dress when Rukia came in and held it in front of Ichigo's face.

"No." Ritsu said quietly.

"What?" Rukia asked.

"Don't do it to Ichi-nii."

"O...kay..." Rukia murmured. She climbed back into her closet and fell back asleep.

Ritsu layed down on her bed and pulled up her covers. She rolled onto her side and fell into a restless sleep.

"...Mommy?" a young Ritsu whispered as a gentle hand drew a wet cloth across her forehead.

"No sweety. I'm Tsukirio and next to me is my husband Tsukokiro. We saw you floating down the river and pulled you out. Poor thing, you were almost dead."

"H-how... long... have I..."

"Been here?" Tsukirio finished her sentence for her. "You've been here almost a week sleeping very fitfully with a high fever. It only broke this morning."

"I need to... go... home..."

"Can you tell us your name sweety?" Tsukirio asked her. Ritsu thought for a moment and then sighed.

"My head... hurts to... much for... thinking..." Ritsu pushed out. Tsukirio and Tsukokiro exchanged looks. Ritsu turned onto her side and tried to go back to sleep. When she woke up, she sat up straight.

"MOMMY!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, "Mommy! Mommy! Mom..my!" Tears burst out of her eyes and she sobbed into her knees. "Mommy..." Tsukirio came over and tapped her on her shoulder.

"Sweety?" she asked hesitantly.

"Ri...tsu..." she said between gasps.

"What sweety?"

"My name... is... Ritsu... Kuro...saki..." she cried out.

"Ritsu Kurosaki?" Tsukirio asked, "Does your daddy own the Kurosaki Clinic?" Glumly, Ritsu nodded.

"Tsukokiro?" Tsukirio asked her husband. "Do you think it's safe to move her?" He nodded and walked up to Ritsu. "We're taking you home sweety." Tsukirio said to her as Tsukokiro lifted her. Ritsu just nodded as tears rolled down her cheeks.

_I don't think they could've not fallen in after me..._ she thought to herself. Tsukokiro put her down in his truck and drove to the Kurosaki Clinic. He picked her up when they got there and walked up to the door. On the door was a sign. It read

_Due to deaths in the family we will be closed. We apologize for any loss of life our absence may cause._

Tsukokiro ignored the sign and pounded on the door.

"Go away!" came a voice from inside.

"Da...ddy?" Ritsu called out as loud as she could. A moment later, the door opened. It was Isshin. "Daddy..." Ritsu sighed.

"Ritsu!" he yelled. He fell onto his knees and took his frail daughter out of the arms of the stranger in front of him. Without waiting for so much as a 'thank you' from Isshin, Tsukokiro walked back to his truck and drove away.

"Ritsu..." Ritsu looked at her daddy to see tears falling down his cheeks. She reached up and caught one as it tumbled down his cheek. Her little hand was trembling.

"Don't cry Daddy..." she whispered to him.

"Ritsu..." he said again, "I'd thought we'd lost you..." He stood up and walked inside the house.

Ritsu sat up straight in bed as her alarm clock went off next to her. She was covered in sweat and her blankets were on the floor. Her shirt was tangled over her arms. It must've come off when she was dreaming. Across the room, Ichigo was stirring.

"Rii..." he whispered one last time before he finally woke up. He sat up slowly, looking at his legs.

"Ichi-nii?" she asked. He started at her voice and jumped out of bed. He starred at her for a moment. Then he rushed over without putting anything on over his boxers and grabbed her in his arms.

"Rii..." he gasped out, "Where've you been the last two weeks?"

"I've only been gone the last week Ichi-nii." He looked up at her face and just sat there for a moment. Then he let go off her and pulled away.

"Sorry..." he muttered, "I must still be half asleep..."

"No problem. Let's get dressed..." Ritsu stood up and dropped her shirt on her bed. She walked to the bathroom and took a super fast shower. In about two minutes, she was back in their room.

"Your turn." she said to Ichigo as she walked in with her towel wrapped around her. He headed out of the room as she plugged in her blowdryer. She dried her hair and put on a skirt like the one their mom wore that day. When tears rolled down her cheeks, she took it off and sat on her bed for a minute until the tears slowed down. After they did, she dug around her clothes until she came across the red dress again. She put it on and then went back to the bathroom as Ichigo came out.

Ritsu took her bathroom bag into the bathroom with her. "This'll be the first time Mommy..." she whispered. She put on her make-up and pulled out her straightener. "Also a first." she started straightening her hair until it was arranged in spikes. "There." she put away the straightener and walked out of the bathroom.

When Ritsu walked into their room, Ichigo was pulling on a tee-shirt. He stopped when he saw her.

"...Ritsu..." he said, shock playing across his face. He shook his wet head and finished pulling on his tee-shirt. Ritsu dug under her bed until she came across a pair of red wedges. She put them on and stood up. Ichigo put on his tee-shirt and the twins walked out of their room together. When they got downstairs, Ritsu's different attire knocked their dad out of the air before she could.

"Ritsu!" Yuzu said in shock, "You look amazing! Mom would be so proud!" Yuzu handed Ichigo toast and Ritsu her customary cup of coffee. "How was your trip? Did Orihime-chan take you skiing like she said she would?" Ritsu nodded as she took a sip of coffee. She sat down as Isshin went over their plan for the day.

First, they would walk to the cemetery. Next they'd say prayers to Masaki. Then they'd have their picnic and various competitions. Ritsu just shook her head as she was handed a pack and a bag of food. She put on the pack and then walked out the door after Ichigo. They started the walk to Masaki's grave in silence.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Tada! Don't you feel sad for Ritsu? She fell in the river! Can you imagine how much lonlier that would've mad Ichigo feel? And isn't it weird that she got put in a gigai ven though she has an actual body? There will be torture for Urahara and small red heads being punched in the near or not so near future! Beware of Ritsu 'cause ya never know what she's gonna do~!**

**On another note, with the this'll be a firsts from Ritsu, it's not that she hasn't worn makeup or that she hasn't straightened/spiked her hair before, it's just that she's never done it for a visit to the grave before. Ritsu will be very involved next chapter and Ichigo probably will do something much different than cannon! Yu will never know though! XD**


	6. Chapter 6

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

***Laughs maniacally as she lifts sledge hammer* (don't ask, it's a long story...)**

**I'm back~! Just when you thought you'd be rid of me too! Mwahahaha! *Smiles impishly***

**ICHIGO: Just get to the godamn plot already, will ya?**

**DASHITA: SHut up carrot head! LEt me have my maniac fit it it'll come down on you! DO I need to bring batty into this conversasion to proove my point? He got worse than you did! *starts swinging sledgehammer in a threatening manner***

**ICHIGO: *Gulps* *suddenly afraid of his plot writer* N-no...**

**ULQUIORRA: My name is not 'Batty' onna.**

**DASHITA: *Raises sledgehammer***

**ULQUIORRA: *cowers as memories pop up***

**Chapter Six**

They walked through the town until they got to the big hill where the cemetery was. The twins were in front with Ichigo and Ritsu close behind. Isshin was all the way in the back. Ritsu stumbled suddenly on the steep incline and Ichigo caught her right before she tumbled.

"Sorry." she said quietly as she regained her balance.

"It's fine." Ichigo answered her. Ritsu just shook her head and kept walking.

"Aww..." Yuzu complained from the front, "We're never gonna get to the top!"

"Speak for yourself," Karin said shortly, "This hill's no problem. And please, don't let Dad hear you say that." It was too late to stop their goofy dad though, he started another one of his rants.

"YOU CAN DO IT YUZU! HANG IN THERE!" he shouted to her. He flipped upside down to walk on his hands. "DAD'S ON YOUR SIDE!"

"Now ya did it." Karin said with melancholy evident in her tone. "Just ignore him. Or else he'll never stop." She turned around to walk forward again. "Giving guys like him attention only encourages them."

"Your wrong about that!"Isshin said as he began to whip his way up the hill on his hands, "I'm on a medically encourage even if you ignore me!"

"Look out Yuzu!" Karin yelled to her twin. Isshin scooped bu Yuzu and made her hold down her yellow dress because of the wind.

"Father slide attack says this way to the top!" Isshin slid toward the top on his side until he reached Karin.

"And daughter says this way to the bottom!" Karin used her hardest soccer kick to knock their dad all the way to the bottom of the hill. Ritsu fell over side ways and Ichigo jumped out of the way as he rolled by them.

"ow..." Ritsu moaned as she struggled to stand up. Ichigo gave her his hand and yanked her up.

"Now we can walk in peace for a while." Karin said as she kept going.

"Whoo," said Ichigo to himself, "Man it's hot. Even for the middle of June this kinda heat's unusual..."

"Mhm."Ritsu agreed with him. "Funny though,isn't it? It's the exact opposite of that day..."

"Wow," Karin sad from a little ways in front of them, "Someone's up there already..."

"She must've gotten up really early to beat _us_ there..."

"Uh huh." Karin agreed, "Although, doesn't she look awfully happy for someone visiting a grave?" Ichigo was acting like he had spiders in his pants at the sight of Rukia waving her hat from the top of the hill. Ritsu just shook her head and walked past her family to the top of the hill. Behind her, she could hear Ichigo panicking.

"She's waving like she knows you!" Yuzu said.

"Uh uh!" Ichigo protested, "No way! Nope, nope, nope! Never seen her before!"

"There is something familiar about her..." Karin said, skeptically. "I wonder if I've seen her somewhere before..."

"No!" Ichigo said again, "Don't say that! Hey, I just remembered, I do know her! IN fact she's a girl from my class back in middle school. Maybe I should go talk to her or something ya know? UH, HAHA! I'm gonna go and have a chat with her and Ritsu, Don't wait for us, we'll meet you up at Mom's grave!" A slight whoosh was the only warning Ritsu had before Ichigo ran by and grabbed her arm along with Rukia and ran into the forest.

"What are you doing following me here Rukia?" Ichigo demanded once he'd dragged the two girls a fair way down the path.

"Isn't it obvious?" she asked him.

"You're here for patrol duty." Ritsu said, leaning up against a tree.

"Mhm." Rukia nodded, "You guys certainly can't handle a hollow yourselves."

"You could've been a little more discreet in front of the twins." Ritsu said, her tone a little sharper than what she meant.

"Why were you waving at us like that?" Ichigo threw in.

"I suppose a could've been a little less obvious," Rukia explained, "But I just didn't think of it."

"That's okay." Ichigo said, "So what are you upset about?"

"Actually," Rukia informed the twins, "I'm not upset about anything. ...Listen, about your mother. I heard you mention that someone killed her."

"I didn't say that." Ichigo said.

"But you never said who killed her."

"Listen," Ichigo said, glancing at Ritsu, "Just drop it, okay?"

"When I first met you, you both said that you'd been able to see spirits since you were very young. Ichigo, Ritsu, I need you to answer one more question. Your mother could she have been killed by... a hollow? Do you think that it's possible? If your spiritual capabilities were that high as children, then there could've been a hollow that sensed it and when it came after you, your mother-"

Rukia was stopped by Ritsu slapping her across the face.

"Stop it. Just shut your damn mouth." Rukia was shocked. Not only had she just been slapped, but she'd been slapped by Ritsu, not Ichigo.

"Why does everything have to be about hollows with you? There was no freaking hollow there that day!"

"You'll never understand how much we went through that day and everyday since. You'll never understand..." Ritsu became chocked up and fell back against a tree.

"Sorry to wreck your theory, but all the usual suspects like serial killers and thugs... They're not to blame."

"I am." Ritsu said.

"We've been over this a million times Rii!" Ichigo yelled, "It's not your fault it's mine!"

"Because your totally the one who made Mom break her ankle! Because you're the one who leapt headlong into a stormy river and then was unconscious for two weeks afterward!" Ritsu stopped talking then and looked like she'd fallen in on herself. Then after Ichigo moved to touch her on the shoulder, Ritsu bolted with all the speed she could in the gigai. It was like she was flying, but in a storm. Ichigo chased after her.

"Wait!" Rukia shouted behind them, "Ritsu! Ichigo!" Ritsu just ran as fast as she could from the memories that were threatening to overwhelm her. She ran and she ran until she was sobbing. She collapsed at the base of a cliff and screamed her heart out. Ichigo finally caught up with her and patted her back as she screamed and sobbed . He pulled her onto his lap and she cried into his shoulder. From up above, there came a shout.

"ICHIGO!" And then a stuffed lion landed on Ichigo's back. Ritsu looked up at the soft thud and almost screamed again at the sight of an animated lion. Her breathing sped up and she pressed her face into Ichigo's shoulder again.

"I am _really_ not in the mood for you right now." Ichigo said, "KON!"

"But you don't understand! Rukia's in trouble!"

"Hm?" Ichigo said. He tapped Ritsu on the shoulder and she looked up. "Come on Ritsu. We have to save Rukia!" Ritsu stood up and started to run back towards the oath where Rukia last was. Ahead of her, she could see two figures through the trees. She ducked to the side at the last minute and hid behind a tree while behind her, Kon decided to shout.

"RUKIA!" Ichigo ran into the clearing with Kon on his shoulder.

"Who're you?" Ichigo asked the unfamiliar man dressed in black, "And what do you want here?"

"Well,: said the man, "It's spiky head! Where's your sister?" He looked around the clearing that the path made until he spotted her behind the tree. "Come on out Hun." he turned back to Ichigo. "Am I really visible to you guys?" With that, Ritsu received a jolt of shock. This man was a soul reaper!

"Kon," Ichigo said to the plush toy, "Who is this guy?"

"I don't know," the annoyance replied, "Beats me!"

"Ah," Ichigo growled as he grabbed Kon by the top of the head, "You brought me here in a panic because you said it was an emergency. If I'd known it was just you being stupid, I would've stayed back there with Ritsu until she calmed down! Right now, she's probably pissed as hell at the both of us!"

"Never mind about me right now," the soul reaper said, "Tell me about yourselves, huh? Just what do you do?" Rukia's eyes grew wide.

"Don't say it guys!"

"I"m here to kick the shit out of you." was what Ritsu said while Ichigo said something different at the same time.

"We're substitute soul reapers." Ritsu shook her head and slapped the back of her brother's.

"Hey!" he shouted at her. Then he recognized the look on her face. She _was_ pissed as hell at them. He gulped.

"Soul reapers?" the guy said, "Is that right? I'm still waiting for the punch line, 'cause that has to be a joke! Oh, Rukia. That's a big mistake! What you've done is considered a serious crime even with one offense. But with two?"

"What crime?" the twins said at the same time.

"What's he saying?" Ichigo asked Rukia.

"Maybe it's better..." the guy said, "It'll be more fun to kill two soul reaper imposters than just another gigai. So lets do it!" He threw his hat into the air.

"Do what?" Ichigo asked while Kon screamed in fear. Rukia dashed over and pulled a glove onto her hand. She drove it threw Ritsu's head and pulled out her soul as the soul reaper ran at her. Rukia stared in shock at Ritsu's blade. It was more than twice as large as what it had been last time.

Ritsu deflected the man's blade with the side of her own and then flitted away. She kept dancing around the clearing thinking the hole time about how the gigai was still pulling bits of her soul back into it. IN the back round, Ichigo was shoving his hand into Kon's mouth and pulling out a pill.

Ritsu jumped backwards as one of the man's swings came particularly close to her face. The tip actually drew blood from her cheek. She went on the offensive then and pushed him back into the trees as Ichigo swallowed the pill.

Ritsu actually managed to give the man a cut on his face similar to her own before Ichigo transformed.

"Impressive." he said, "You guys are human yet you can both transform." Ichigo just leapt at him, but the man was quickly back on the offensive.

"You use your strength to cover for your weakness, but you have no real tactics or any skill at all. Your sister did a lot better than you even though she's barely able to lift that blade." Ichigo glanced back at Ritsu for a second, but before he could actually see her blade, he was knocked over backwards and across the clearing.

Ritsu watched him fall and then darted back into the battle. She pressed the man into being defensive again as she pressed faster and faster with the swings of her blade.

"Dang..." she muttered under her breath, "This is getting easier to wield..." Her sword blade was actually growing lighter with each swing. It was getting smaller as well. After a few minutes, the man began to press the offensive again and her sword grew heavier. She was still able to defend against his swings fairly easily.

Without warning, he leapt straight at her and she wasn't able to lift her sword up in time to block fully. She got thrown back into the trees.

"Guess it can't hurt..." she muttered as she coughed again. This time, before she tried the spell, she moved out from in front of the tree. "Hado Four," she said as she positioned her hands, "Byakurai!" Ichigo was lucky not to be hit by the wide blast of lightening that Ritsu shot at the guy. He just barely missed it although he was singed heavily.

"Amazing!" he cheered, "Your only human and yet you can do kido as well as transform? How do you do-" he was interrupted by Ichigo flying back at him with a sword.

Ritsu sat up again, slightly groggy. Her head pounded and she could feel her awareness slipping towards the gigai.

"Ritsu!" Rukia called. She had finally noticed the trailing pieces of black that were flying away from the girl and into the gigai. It was completely unnatural and Rukia was worried about her. She didn't know that it was a gigai though. She thought it was Ritsu's real body.

Ritsu stood up again and watched the world spin. She shook her head and sat back down. Rukia ran over to her.

"Ritsu!" Rukia's voice sounded so far away. Then a beeping came.

"What's that?" the guy asked. He also sounded far away to Ritsu.

"It's a hollow!" Rukia said in shock. Ritsu struggled to clear her head. She'd been completely useless so far today and she wanted to help with the hollow. Ichigo ran over to Rukia to look at her soul pager.

"Where is it?" Ichigo asked Rukia.

"It's close." she answered him, "and it's big. Come look at this. The spirit energy reading is higher than usual.

"Yeah," said the guy as he somehow appeared next to Ritsu without anyone noticing, "It's way outta your league."

"Huh?" Ichigo and Ichigo's body asked. Then they both screamed.

"Are we gonna finish this now?" Ichigo demanded.

"Ichigo, Rukia said, "There's no time for that anymore! Your family's in danger!" Ritsu struggled to her feet.

"Let's go!" Rukia said to Ichigo. The two took of running without a backwards look.

"Help... me..." Ritsu said to Kon in Ichigo's body.

"S-sure..." he answered her. He put one arm around her and grabbed her arm with the other hand. Then he ran after Ichigo and Rukia. The soul reaper was right behind them. They five of them made it to the steps and Kon just picked Ritsu up and ran down them with her in his arms. Rukia and Ichigo were running a little a head of them, so they saw the ugly beast first. When Ritsu saw them, it was to see Yuzu falling out of the air with an ugly tentacle wrapped around her throat. Ichigo had justcut it off of the hollow. It looked like a big blob of brown hair with a mask.

Ritsu managed to jump out of Kon's arms and catch Yuzu in mid air. Ichigo only glanced back to make sure that his sisters were alright. He jumped up again and when he moved, Ritsu saw why. Karin was squished underneath of one of the hollow's hands. As Ichigo leaped a little closer, the hollow held up Karin.

"One hostage should be all I need. I've been waiting for you shinigami."

"Karin!" Ichigo called.

"Ichi..." Karin managed to whisper. Then her head flopped to the side as she passed out. Ritsu handed Yuzu off to Kon and stood up. Her reatisu didn't flare up or anything, but the atmosphere got a lot darker.

Rukia watched as the trailing pieces flew back to Ritsu. Within a moment, the disintegrating sleeve of her shinigami outfit had reconstructed itself.

Ritsu walked up next to Ichigo who had glanced back at the feel in the air to see her sleeve. Finally, the shinigami guy caught up from behind them.

"_That_ guy." was all he said.

As Ritsu stared at the hollow, a figure appeared. It was a girl with black hair and a white poncho with black designs around the hems. She grew cold and her eyes grew wide. Ichigo tensed up like he was going to jump at the hollow, but Ritsu held her sword up in front of him.

"It's... her..." Ritsu muttered, barely able to move beyond holding Ichigo back.

"Who?" Ichigo and Rukia asked at the same time.

"The reason I ran... when the river was so full... it's that girl... from six years ago..." Ritsu's arm was shaking as Rukia took a step forward.

"Ritsu... You don't mean...?"

"Yes. It's the girl I tried to save and the reason that I... and my mom... dead..." Her voice cracked on the last word and tears dripped down the corners of Ritsu's cheeks.

"Six years ago?" Ritsu's skin crawled. The hollow's voice was coming out of the girl. "I don't remember anything from that long ago... I see, this is interesting. It laughed and then down the girl's part, the hair fell to either side of her head. There was a bottle neck at the top and a pink fleshing thing shot out the top. It connected to the hollow's head and pulled the girl inside out. It was a fishing lure.

"The Grand Fisher..." came Rukia's voice. Ritsu glanced back at her. "That's its codename." she explained, "It hides itself and makes the appendage growing out of it's head take human form. Then any human who can see it, in other words, any human with a soul of high spirit density, becomes its prey to increase its power. That hollow has evaded shinigami for over fifty long years. We know it's favorite victims, are women."

Ritsu's reatisu was slowly climbing as she tried to hold her temper. Blowing up now would not help anyone and her mom wouldn't want that. But... the bastard that killed her was right in front of her!

"Damn it..." Ritsu muttered. She was going to explode and there was nothing she could do about it...

The hollow turned to her.

"What? I didn't know that you would be so tasty too!" It let out a throaty guttural laugh. Ritsu couldn't hold it in any more. She leapt at the hollow and yanked Karin free. Ritsu tossed her back towards Ichigo as the hollow looked at her in shock. Then an evil red glitter appeared in its eyes.

Behind her, Ritsu could hear Rukia shouting at her and the shinigami joining in. Ritsu raised her sword as the hollow reached for her with the hand that had been holding Karin. She swung down hard and cleaved its arm off just as the hollow's hair became spears.

The hair spears stabbed through her stomach and some of the hair wrapped around her throat. Behind her, someone was moving fast. A streak of orange passed in front of her and cut off the hair holding her neck and stabbing through her stomach. Ichigo caught her as she fell and then yanked the hair out of her stomach. She reached up and rubbed her neck.

"Idiot!" Ichigo hissed at her. The hollow reached out with its hair again and grabbed Ichigo around the throat. It grabbed Ritsu too and completely pulled them off of the ground. It covered them with its hair and yanked them up onto a wall. Outside of the ball off hair, Rukia was shouting out a spell.

"How dare you interfere!" the hollow yelled. It formed another spear and struck it toward Rukia. She screamed and Ritsu heard a thud.

Ritsu yanked her hands out of the hair and slid her sword handle under her armpit.

"Hado... four... Byakurai..." She jabbed her hands into the solid part of the hollow and coughed up blood as the lightening struck it. The hair receded and the hollow roared. It dropped Ritsu and Ichigo fought his way out of the hair around him.

Ichigo grabbed Ritsu and pulled her back close to Rukia. Rukia was slumped up against a headstone with blood dripping down her face. The hollow sent spears at them and Ichigo stood with his blade out, but the shinigami jumped in front of him and was skewered by them. Ichigo jumped next to the shinigami and cut the hair spears with his sword. The shinigami leaned heavily on his sword and panted as blood splattered onto the ground.

"...Why?" Ichigo asked him, "Tell me... You sacrificed yourself..." The shinigami panted a moment before responding.

"I'm a shinigami kid," he answered with a smirk, "and we fight hollows. Kill them without mercy, no matter what." A bunch of blood came out of his mouth. He spat it out as a small trail trickled out of the corner of his mouth. "When a hollow attacks at random and... kills someone," He fell lower. Rukia gasped and leaned closer.

"That persons loved ones are the real victims." he forced himself to continue. "They're left with nothing but an emptiness. As a soul reaper, I couldn't let that happen. We must always protect the innocent... Do ya understand spike head?" He smirked again right before collapsing.

"Hey!" Ichigo said, "Get up! Do ya hear me? Get up!" Rukia stood up to walk over to him. "He can't die can he?" Ichigo asked in a panic. "He's a shinigami!"

"Ichigo," Rukia said quietly, "even shinigami are not immortal. If the injuries are severe enough..." Suddenly, Rukia heard a snoring sound. "Huh?" she said again.

"Wait a minute..." Ichigo said as he heard the snoring too, "He's only sleeping!"

Ritsu pulled herself up shakily with the headstone she was leaning against.

"Wait a sec guys..." she paused to hack up a little blood, "My zanpactou... is... He has my zanpactou!" The hollow did indeed have Ritsu's zanpactou. It held it in its one remaining hand.

"I'm tired of playing games shinigami!" it growled. Ritsu took a shaky step forward and almost fell over. Kon steadied her with one hand.

"Thanks..." she said quietly.

"No problem..." he answered her.

"Take my sisters and run. I don't care to where, but run."

"Okay..." he said, slightly confused, "Are you sure you're gonna be okay?"

"No. But go anyway." Ritsu pulled away from Kon and took another step forward. Kon grabbed the unconscious twins and ran away. The hollow took a step forward, then lunged. It took a wild swing with Ritsu's sword, which had become enormous again. Overstepping, it shot out with itsspears.

Everyone scattered and Ritsu simply fell flat onto the ground. When she looked back up, there was a spear directly above her head. She rolled to the side and shakily pulled herself to her feet.

"Ritsu!" Ichigo yelled at her, "Are you okay?" Ritsu nodded as she lunged out of the way as another spear shot at her.

"I'll fight him." Rukia said to the twins, "You back me up." Ritsu and Ichigo both took strides enough that they were standing in front of Rukia. Ritsu went farther than that. Her reatisu was rising again and she couldn't force it back down again. It went past the point it had been moments ago and kept climbing. Her bleeding stopped and her wounds slowly began to partially heal.

"I'll fight him." Ritsu muttered to the two before she moved faster than lightening to right in front of the hollow. Her reatisu was still climbing up as she grabbed a hold of her blade and yanked it away from the beast.

"What is she?" Rukia muttered, dumbstruck at the still climbing reatisu she felt in front of her.

"Bastard..." Ritsu muttered to the hollow. She flitted away from him and brought her sword down in what she intended to be a fatal arc. The hollow blocked her with his hair though before it began taunting her.

"You're not strong enough shinigami." Ritsu came after it again, but it slowly but surely began to draw her towards the forest. She swung time after time, but the hollow simply blocked and struck back with greater strength.

Ichigo followed closely after the fight, wanting to help Ritsu but not knowing exactly how. Rukia was close behind him and she was shocked into silence because Ritsu's reatisu was still climbing! She shook her head and ran after Ichigo to see where this would lead.

The hollow finally stopped in the clearing near where Ritsu's gigai was. IT turned on her and she leapt higher than before and landed a solid blow on its shoulder. It roared in pain as she leapt back and black blood spurted out of it.

Over head, the clouds waiting there finally decided to give out. Rain hit the ground as the hollow's roar finally faded away.

"That was pretty brave of you to go in your comrades' place."the hollow told her in a mocking voice, "Pretty brave, and pretty _stupid_." Ritsu felt her rising reatisu spike once and continue rising at a higher pace. When was it going to stop?

Ritsu shook her head and jumped at the hollow again. Ichigo and Rukia caught up at that point and Ichigo could only stare in silent horror at the look in his sister's eyes. Instead of the happy go lucky look that usually resided there, this was one of hatred and loathing. As Ritsu brought down her sword, the hollow disappeared from in front of her.

"Wha...?" she said before the hollow spoke from behind her.

"You should've let your companion face me! Then at least, your death would've been quick!" The hollow roared again as it lashed out with its spears. One of them was aimed straight for Ritsu's heart.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS:**

**Sorry I'm leaving you guys on such a horrible cliff hanger... I'm having major writer's block with this whole thing. If any of you have a suggestion, feel free to drop it in a review because I'm not sure what I wanna do. Also, does it seem like I'm over powering RItsu? I don't wanna play her up _to _much yet, but I don't want to make her pathetic either. PLEASE, I need some moral boosting or I'm not sure what I'm gonna do. THis story IS for you guys after all, I really don't want it to go to waste either...**


	7. Chapter 7

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey guys, I'm so sorry! I've been really busy and I've had _no_ time to work on it. Guess that happens when your're in a marching band... Yeah... Well, let me know what ya think please! =)**

**Chapter Seven**

Ichigo leapt into the fight then, not wanting his sister to be impaled on the spear of the hollow. He swung his sword and chopped the spear off just short of his sister.

"Ritsu!" he chastised her, "Be careful dammit! This hollow isn't going to get more of our family!"

Ritsu jumped away from the hollow as Ichigo shifted his sword to move. She just stood there for a moment. Ichigo looked at her, but her hair was covering her face. The rain was taking her straightened hair and making it curl softly. He shook his head and leapt after the hollow himself. It still was the beast that had killed his mother and it had almost killed Ritsu. He was angry and he was angry now.

Ritsu stood there with her hair forming a barrier between her and the outside world. A single tear fell down her cheek.

"...Mommy..." she whispered. Another tear joined the first. "Why? Why did I have to fall down the slope? If I had stayed up right, or if I hadn't been born... Mommy wouldn't have broken her ankle... Mommy wouldn't have died..." Ritsu's cheeks were covered as tears poured from her sad, lonely eyes.

"Mommy!" she screamed. Her sudden yell startled everyone. Rukia jumped and looked over at the orange haired girl. Ichigo looked over in the middle of a defensive move to see her standing there, with her hair now out of her face and her closed eyes turned to the sky. The hollow took advantage of Ichigo's distraction and stabbed him with his claws. The claws just extended like his hairy spears.

Ichigo coughed up blood and fell to his knees. He plunged his sword into the ground to keep himself from falling further.

"That'll teach you to be so reckless amateur shinigami! And now after sacrificing yourself for your loved one, you'll watch her die before I finally kill you myself!" The hollow let out a sinister lunge before sprouting another hand. He stretched it for a moment before he leapt after the still sobbing Ritsu.

Ritsu saw him coming and held up her blade to parry the blow she couldn't dodge. The hollow slammed into her blade at full force and she skidded back. It shot out spears and she just barely managed to avoid the five that came in the first round. She swung at it with her sword, feeling it get lighter as she pressed for the offense.

She swung straight at its mask, but it stopped her blade with one hand. Ritsu yanked her sword out of its grasp and leaped backwards just in time. Had she moved a moment later, she would've been skewered like her brother.

The hollow jumped away from her too and she watched suspiciously.

Rukia was at Ichigo's side, but he was waving her off.

"We do this _our_ way. For our mother! Now stay back Rukia! We're gonna finish this! Even if we die..." he pulled himself to his feet via his zanpactou.

"Then die you will!" the hollow proclaimed ominously. "Because you allow your passion and your rage to distract you from your purpose! And that distraction dulls your sword." The hollow looked at Ritsu. "The same goes for you. You allow it to not only dull your blade, but to shatter your reason. Both of you flail wildly with those blades but your physical prowess is not enough to defeat me. And now, I will show you why your minds are not enough to fight me either! Behold!" The hollow swung his lure around and grabbed the head of his doll. When he removed his hand, their mother was staring out at them.

Ritsu froze when she saw the face. Her zanpactou hit the ground with a clang. She stayed in her stance, but without being able to hold her zanpactou, she was wide open. The hollow was giving some sort of explanation, but she couldn't concentrate enough to actually hear it.

"Even the most...shinigami... one person... kill... fact which you... deny...learning... person is... evaded every shinigami...for over fifty years... for you... one person!"

"Do you remember me children?" the picture of their mother asked them both. Ritsu fell from her stance onto her knees.

"Well shinigami?" the hollow chuckled, "Can you draw your sword against your own mother?"

"Bastard!" Ichigo said as he pulled his sword from the ground. "How dare you defile her memory by bringing her into this! You disgusting freak! You make me sick!" Ichigo started to charge the hollow. "I'll cut your heart out!" The lure swang in front of him, cutting him off.

"Ichigo! You mustn't do this! You mustn't! You mustn't hurt your mother! Please son, you must put your sword down! Do it for me."

Ichigo was shocked into not moving by the lure and he didn't see it when the hollow lashed out with five spears wound together. They punched through his right shoulder, cutting off the nerves. He sputtered as his zanpactou hit the ground.

Ritsu pulled herself to her knees, using her tremendous will power to just stand and retrieve her zanpactou.

"Bastard..." she said quietly. She lifted her sword into the air and charged. "BASTARD!" she yelled twice as loud as Ichigo had. She cut her brother loose from the hollow and charged the beast. The lure swung in front of her, but she swerved to avoid it. And it was in front of her again.

"Rii-chan, no! Put your sword down, you mustn't hurt your mother!" Ritsu heard her mother's voice and felt tears come rushing out of her eyes once more.

"You... you... you bitch!" Ritsu yelled. "You're not my mother!" Ritsu's eyes were livid as she cut off the grand fisher's lure. As soon as her sword was out of the way, the hollow sent out all of its spears. Two crashed into Ichigo, one through his stomach and one through his shoulder again. He cried out in pain at his shoulder being run through again.

Several went into Ritsu. One went through her shoulder, one through her left forearm, another through her right thigh, a forth one through her stomach, yet another in her left shoulder, and the final one through her right lung.

The twins hung suspended in midair as the hollow regrew his lure before their eyes. It had the face of their mother once more.

"And now you shall both die! You shall die by your own swords held by your mother!" The hollow sent the doll after Ritsu's sword first. Tears fell twice as thick down her cheeks, but no one could tell because of the rain. Once Maskai's (Their mother's) image had Ritsu's sword in one hand, it grabbed Ichigo's as well. It rose up into the empty space between them just as the first shinigami showed up.

Ritsu could just see him out of the corner of her eye. His face was filled with shock as he saw her suspended imapled form and Ichigo being held vertical by his own projectiles.

"...How?" He asked just as Masaki's image swooped towards Ritsu. It halted mid-swing and energy blazed from it out into the open. It looked like lightning had possessed it and it was a creature of the storm. But that wasn't it.

"Why don't you die?" the hollow yelled.

"What is that?" Rukia asked from somewhere behind the two. The shinigami started laughing quietly.

Ritsu watched in shock as the lightning turned into a warm radiant pure light. The figure of the lure hung between the twins as they watched in shock.

"M-mom?" asked Ichigo, "Is that you?" The figure hung for a moment before opening its eyes.

"That figure we see isn't actually their mother," came the shinigami from behind them, "but she's transmitting her thoughts to them."

"That can only mean that the lure recorded her thoughts," Rukia replied, "At the very moment she was killed..."

"Her dying thoughts were recorded?" Ichigo asked aloud as the pain in his shoulder faded.

Ritsu hung there silently. She didn't want to hear her mom. It would only make everything worse. She would say not to blame her, but it was her fault! Before her mom could start, Ritsu started to cry again silently.

"Ichigo," their mother started, "My son. I'm very proud of you. You, and your father, Ritsu, Karin, and Yuzu, I am so lucky to have had all those years with all of you. And I know that because of the love that all of you share, you will always keep the family together, and strong, even without me. Ichigo, live on my son, live with strength and kindness, and never lose that smile, the smile you always wore when you looked at me. Ichigo, thank you for loving me.

"Ritsu, my very special daughter," she said as she turned to Ritsu, "I love you very much and you will always be part of me no matter where I go. Stay strong and don't let others beat you down. Your heart is pure and unclouded by hate or predjudice. Stay with your brother and don't let him tease you. No matter what, do what you think is right, and never let go of your heart, the one you always put out for me even when you cried. I love my dear.

"Both of you," she started, and floated in between them, "I love you both so very, very much." She floated away from them, and then all that was left was Grand Fisher.

"Mother..." Ichigo chocked out. He put his hand on the spear of hair through his shoulder. "Know I know what you thought in those last few moments..." He grabbed his sword which the lure had planted in front of him to cut the spear out of his shoulder and leap back. "But now, Ritsu has to take her turn."

Ritsu hung there, feeling dejected. She couldn't really move to grab her sword, so she pointed the fingers on her right hand at the thing.

"Hakudo four, Byakurai..." The lightning shot through the hollow's left shoulder and he pulled his spears out of her howling as he retreated. Ritsu slumped to the ground at the base of her sword. A moment later, she struggled to her feet and dug her sword out of the ground. Her reatisu picked up from where it had been almost nothing a moment bfeore and exploded away from her. In front of everyone's eyes, her wounds sealed themselves. Down where they couldn't see, the nerves were connecting.

Ritsu soared tworads the still howling hollow and swung her sword straight down on the hollows right arm. She cut it off completely and then did the same towards the left before the hair stopped her sword no more than an inch from its arm. It struck out at her with its hair, but she backed away and then swung again. One of the spears was stopped before it could ever reach her.

Her reatisu had stopped climbing, but it was still higher than most average shinigami. She swung her sword at the hollow once more only to miss as the hollow disappeared again. It revealed its position for a split second and moved again. Ritsu spun around and nothing was there. She turned to face the other way again to get a shoulder pierced by hair spears all twined up together.

Ritsu responded by cutting off the hollow's left arm. It howled in pain then turned to retreat.

Ichigo watched as Ritsu fought the hollow, but quickly his blood loss had him passing out. He hit the ground hard as the hollow disappeared. Ritsu turned back to offer him a half smile, but she hit the ground quickly too.

A little while later, Ichigo woke up and Rukia pulled him to his body and he climbed in. He looked around for Ritsu, and found her soul laying there unconscious. Bits of black were drifting off into what he thought was her body. All of a sudden, she sat up with her eyes closed.

"Rii? He asked her. She didn't respond at all, instead stood up and walked to her body. Her face showed no expression whatsoever and she climbed into her body. A few minutes later, she opened her eyes.

"Ichi...nii?" she asked. He rushed over to her.

"Right here Rii!" he said as he knelt down by her side.

"I... couldn't... do it..." A tear ran down her cheek.

"Couldn't do what?" he asked.

"Kill... the hollow..." Tears ran down her cheeks faster and faster. "Couldn't... avenge her... It's all my fault she died in the first place!" She sat up and pressed her face into her hands. She started sobbing and the rain and her tears made her mascara trace down her cheeks.

"Baka..." he said quietly to her. "it's not your fault now and it never was... Stop blaming yourself. You won the battle. It ran. You didn't. You won."

"No..." Ritsu just started sobbing again and Ichigo pulled her close to his chest and hugged her.

"It's not your fault..." He said as she cried her heart out.


	8. Chapter 8

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Wow... I have pretty much vanished into thin air and abandoned you guys... I am such a bad person! It's just that I haven't really been in a writing mood lately and I kinda feel like crap... I have strepp throat... Yeah, my birthday was Saturday and I was throwing up... I still haven't had any birthday cake! *sad face* Anywho, that's still no exscuse for me to abandon you guys. That's enough of my ramblings for now, enjoy the story!**

**Chapter Eight**

Ritsu finally fell asleep with her brother comforting her. He picked her up and carried her to the bottom of the hill.

"Rii-nee!" Yuzu yelled. She hurried over to her big sister.

"What's wrong?" Karin said. She was laying on the steps to one of the shrines and couldn't see what was going on. Ritsu was so tired that she didn't sit bolt upright at the way Yuzu was crying. Yuzu touched her sister's forehead and saw that while she didn't have a fever, she was in no condition to stay out any longer.

Her face was pale and her mascara ran in trails down her cheeks. She was cold and her eyes were fluttering under her lids.

"Rii-nee?" she asked her sister. She still didn't respond.

"What's going on?" Karin demanded again. Yuzu looked back at her twin.

"Rii-nee's not well..." Yuzu told Karin.

"What'd ya mean?" Karin was angry and she started to sit up before she winced. She had bruised her ribs and possibly broken her right arm. Karin fell back again.

"Well, she's in a slightly comatose sleep, has possible hypothermia, and can't move on her own at the moment. She is possibly in shock from a major event or a new revelation." came their father's serious assessment of Ritsu's condition. Then he revealed himself to be the crazy father he always was. "Come on kids! Your mother wouldn't want to see us down in the slumps because someone's sick! Come on!" He danced around wildly on his hands. His children swatted at him and Ichigo moved Rii away.

"Let's go." he demanded of his family, "Dad, get Karin."

"No!" Karin yelled as her father picked her up.

"Let's go!" he yelled as he zoomed off without Ichigo, Ritsu, and Yuzu. The three exchanged glances and walked off.

"Idiot." Ichigo demanded. He walked home with a sister by his side and a sister in his arms. When he made it home, he tucked Ritsu into bed and slammed open his closet. Rukia was sitting there waiting.

"I need to get stronger." he demanded, "Yuzu and Karin got hurt because I wasn't and Ritsu..." he trailed off, his point made.

"Don't worry," said Rukia, "You will be." She slid the door shut and left him to his thoughts. He shook his head and then went to bed to prepare for the next day.

"Bwa ha ha ha ha!" was Orihime's greeting as Ichigo walked in the next day. Ritsu swerved around her and went to her seat. She put down her books and went to the restroom. When she came back, Keigo was arguing with Ichigo.

"What'd ya mean your not going?" he demanded, "It's the best TV show in Japan! And it's gonna be broadcasting _live_ from Karakura. You live in this town dude, you'd have to be dead to miss it!"

"Guess that makes me a zombie," Ichigo replied, leaning out the window, "Get lost." Ichigo waved his pervert of a friend back only for him to knock into Ritsu. She pushed him into the wall and sat down in her seat. He looked at her and shivered before continuing.

"I already went to the trouble of inviting Rukia to go!" They continued on with their antics while Ritsu pulled out her sketch pad.

She started her drawing by drawing her own face, framed by her softly curling hair. Behind her face she drew things that were important to her. Around her, people grew silent as they watched her skill. Whispers passed through them, not wanting to disturb her.

Ritsu finished the sketch just as the bell rang. More people strained for a glimpse of her drawing, so she slammed it shut and shoved it into her pile. Sighs came from around her as the teacher started class.

The rest of the day literally flew by as Ritsu sketched on and off. When people tried to sneak a peak, her book would be slammed shut.

"_Please,_"she said finally during lunch, "Stop looking!" With a kick between the legs, the guy backed off, or rather, fell away from her for the rest of the day.

When evening came and she and Ichigo made it home, they barely had time to change before they were shoved out the door by Yuzu and their dad. Ritsu had put her hair up into a high pony-tail and just dusted her skin with foundation. She wore a pair of blue-jeans and a tee-shirt over a tank-top. It was one of the thin ones that were becoming really popular. From a distance, it kinda looked like she was wearing a map.

Ichigo just wore jeans and a blue tee-shirt over a red tee-shirt that said 'NICE VIBE' and had a star on it. Ritsu shook her head as the teen presented himself for torture.

"Why don't you just stay behind since you don't like it whatsoever bro?" Ritsu asked him.

"Because," he replied in a bored voice, "I don't want you guys to go by yourselves."

"Wow..." she muttered, "Denser than a rock..." She'd just offered him an out and he'd ignored her. Pretty much flat out.

"I heard that." he replied to her mutterings. He hadn't exactly heard her, but he knew what she'd said.

"Just keep tellin' yourself that." Ritsu said, winking at him. He shook his head. Ritsu shushed him and turned to the stage as the show started.

"Good evening everyone!" the announcer began, "This week's episode of _Spirit Hunter_ is brought to you live from an abandoned hospital in the town of Karakura! Where the tortured screams of the dead can be heard echoing through the hall!"

"Who knows what horrifying sights we'll witness here this evening." the female announcer put in.

"And now folks," the male announcer continued, "let's give a warm welcome to this century's _premiere_ spiritualist, and messenger from hell Mister Don Kan'onji!" He gestured up and the spotlight turned to the helicopter over head. Ichigo plugged his ears. A man jumped from the helicopter.

"Ooooooyahh!" he shouted, "THE SPIRITS ARE ALWAYS WITH YOU!" he dove for another second before pulling the parachute. He landed and unhooked the parachute. Stage hands ran up and pulled it off-stage.

"Don Kan'onji! Don Kan'onji! Don Kan'onji!" the crowd chanted while waiting for him to speak.

"And how is everyone tonight?" he asked over the chanting. He wore a black hat with gold trim with SP written in red. He had black glasses on and he wore a black cap with white fur around his collar. His skin was dark and he had a black mustache along with black dread locks.

"Hold onto your seats my babies," he continued, "it's time again ta hear the spirits cry!"

"So tell us," said the female announcer, "What do you think of this place? Well?"

"The stench of the spirit world hangs in the air around us," he said, looking as if he was shushing everyone, "I'd have to say that-"

"Smells like bad spirits!" the crowd finished his sentence.

"BWA ha ha ha ha ha ha!" He said, pulling his arms over his chest.

"BWA HA HA HA HA HA!" the crowd echoed. Ichigo stared morously at the ground as gray smoke pilled up around the star.

"And we're cutting to comercial!" a male voice rang out over the crowd. Ichigo just shook his head and glanced around for Karin and Yuzu. Ritsu was scanning too and moved off to join them when she spotted them. When she reachd them, their dad was nowhere in sight.

"Where's Dad?" she asked Karin.

"He went to go get us capes!" Yuzu popped out exitedly.

"He did, did he?" she teased.

"Yeah! It's so great! We'll be like real spirit hunters! Especially Ichi-nii! If he wears one then he really will be a spirit hunter!" Yuzu was jumping up and down in excitement. Ritsu could only smile and shake her head softly as she scanned for their dad. She was looking in front of her, so she didn't hear someone sneaking up behind her...

WHAM! Her father had her in a headlock and was tying a cape around her neck way too tight. She was seeing black and blue before she even had a chance to respond.

"DAD!" she screamed. People around them had been trickling away, but they stopped at the sudden action. Ritsu twisted her way out of the head lock and round housed her dad.

"Rii!" he responded, distressed by her actions, as usual, "Why?" She merely responded by punching him flat out, grabbing her sisters and running off to find Ichigo. What she didn't realize was that the camera scanning the audience had still been on and it had been pointed at her the entire fight. Also, there were three cloaks around her neck instead of one.

When Ritsu stopped running, she let go of Ritsu and Karin and undid the capes from around her neck. She handed one to Yuzu who excitedly tied it around her neck and threw the other two in the trash can knowing that Karin wouldn't wear it for the world and she hated spirit hunter. Ritsu didn't want to wear one because her dad just tried to choke her with it.

"This way folks!" came the shout of the stage hands, "Make your way to the spirit purification location! The show is about to begin!" Ritsu shook her head and walked back towards the stage with her sisters even as an icy tingle began to crawl up and down her spine...

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**I know it was a lot shorter than normal, but as said above, this is all I can manage for now. Sorry! Also, don't be afraid to prod me if you think I'm stalling between updates...**


	9. Chapter 9

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey guys, wow! Look at me! I'm being all fancy with updating after a week! Maybe I"ll be able to keep this up... Or maybe not... Don't quote me on that! Okay, yeah, I"m gonna _try_ to do a weekly update from now on, but I make no promises!**

Ritsu looked around to see their dad again.

"Come on!" she called to him, knowing she was going to regret it. Sure enough, as soon as the words were out of her mouth, her dad jumped on her back.

"Ritsu my darling daughter! Where did you go? I was so terrified!" Ritsu spun in a circle to send him flying off just as a loud squealing came from her bag. She knocked Isshin in the face with her foot and opened her bag to see the lion from the day before.

"Nya? You? What are you doing here?" she hissed at it.

"RUKIA!" The lion called out. It launched out of the bag into her face before it could tell it wasn't Rukia. "What?" It asked, "You're not Rukia! Where's Rukia-nii?" It cried out.

"I don't know!" Ritsu hissed at it, "Now, get back in the-"

A loud roar came out of the night to interrupt Ritsu's stuffing of the lion back into her bag.

"Wha…" Ritsu stammered out. The roar came again and again.

"Oh boy," muttered Karin, "I never shoulda come out here with you guys…"

"Hey," said their dad, for once acting serious, "why the long face?"

"Nothing." Karin said in a monotone voice. Ritsu stuffed the lion into the bag in one swift move and maneuvered her way to in front of her dad.

"I'm going to go find Ichigo." She said flatly, leaving no room for argument. Then she ran into the thickening crowd to find her brother. People were chattering left and right and no one that Ritsu saw gave any indication that they heard the sinister sound.

_'Damn,'_ Ritsu thought, _'If it's a hollow, what're we gonna do with all these people? It's definitely gonna come after me and Ichi, but what about everybody else?'_ She dodged around all the crowds, smiling at anyone who looked at her.

"Excuse me!" she called out again and again. By the time she saw her brother's bright orange top in the crowd, they were starting the show again.

"Coming back from commercial!" rang out a male voice. All the lights focused onto the stage and Ritsu ducked out of the back of the crowd in order to get to her brother faster. Her heart was hammering loudly in her chest.

'_What're we gonna do?'_ she practically screamed to herself. The Spirit Hunter show was starting in the background of her thoughts.

"_The spirits are always with you!"_ said Don Kan'onji from in front of the hospital. "Bwahahahahahaha!" he cried with the crowd doing it right along with him. She was finally close enough to hear Ichigo over the roar of the crowd.

"Hey, knock it off, would ya?" He hissed, sounding like an angry cat.

"Don't worry," came a feminine voice from in front of him, just out of Ritsu's line of sight, "It takes months for a jibakurei spirit to transform into a hollow."

_Rukia!_ Ritsu thought, slightly ecstatic, the petite shinigami would know what to do! Ritsu rounded a dense group of people to see Ichigo standing a little apart from the crowd, watching Rukia in front of him.

"Ichi-nii!" she called. He looked up to see her coming faster than a streak of lightning. She crashed into him and then backed up. "Sorry…" she muttered, "Did you hear that?" she panted, still slightly out of breath, "Was it a hollow? Was it? What're we gonna do, there're so many people-"

He put his hand over her mouth.

"No, it's not a hollow. It's a jibakurei spirit or something like that. Rukia and I are gonna konso it after the show."

"Oh." Ritsu said, crestfallen. She hadn't gotten to really fight a hollow yet, or do a konso, so she was slightly disappointed that she wouldn't get to help.

Ichigo looked at his twin and saw how her shoulders slumped and a muscle in his forehead twitched. Gosh, sisters are such pains. He sighed. "Well, I guess you could help…" he muttered. Ritsu perked up immediately with a great big smile stretched across her face.

"Great!" she sang out, happy again. Ichigo shook his head as she took off again, back towards their dad and sisters.

"She's got you wrapped around her finger…" Rukia observed.

"What?" Ichigo yelped indignantly, "No she doesn't!"

"Yes she does. If it were anyone else, you would've just ignored them and looked away." Rukia turned back to the show, leaving Ichigo to stew.

Ritsu only made it about halfway back to the rest of her family before she remembered the lion in her bag.

"Oh." She said, looking down. "I better give him to Ichigo, just in case…" She turned around and ran back to Ichigo, pulling the lion out of her bag as she went. Ritsu was just about there when one swing of her arms brought the lion especially close to her chest…

Kon saw his chance when Ritsu started swinging her arms as she ran. He waited until her swings got really wide then took a wild chnce and used his momentum to swing himself onto her chest.

Ritsu let out an ear-piercing shriek when the lion grabbed her chest and pulled himself into her bra. She pulled him out and threw him face down into the ground. Then she took her heal and ground him into the dirt.

Ichigo, having heard the shriek, barreled around the group of people to see Kon being pulled out of his sister's bra and thrown to the ground. He stopped moving and kind of just stared at Kon. Rukia barreled into him, having followed him when he took off like that. The two fell to the ground and Rukia slapped Ichigo for having stopped. Then she looked up and saw the classical position of Kon's face being ground into the dirt.

"K-kon?" stammered Ichigo from underneath Rukia. She stood up and Ichigo got to his feet.

"The pervert was in my bra!" Ritsu whispered, horrified.

"He seems to think that any busty girl's chest is where he belongs." said Rukia, amused at the horror stricken twins. Privately, she thought it kind of odd that no one had tried to grope Ritsu before. It happened in Soul Society all the time…

Rukia was knocked out of her thought process by the sound, or rather, the lack of sound, that the jibakurei spirit was making. She looked up to see Don Kan'onji's spirit cane in the hole that was partially opened. Rukia pulled on her glove and shoved Ritsu's spirit out of her body before she even knew what was happening.

"On stage!" Rukia shouted, "GO!" Ritsu headed for the stage before she saw what Kan'onji was doing. When she saw what was happening, she leaped over the crowd and onto the stage. Right as Kan'onji finished, she knocked him back. The crowd roared. She meanwhile, was yelling at Kan'onji.

"What do you think you're doing?" she shrieked, as she thought of her family out in the audience.

"What's wrong with you girl?" he asked.

"You're totally wrong about how you're getting rid of that spirit!"

"No I'm not!" he protested, "I'm the century's premier spiritualist! I know what I'm doing!"

"No you don't!" Ritsu yelled, "All you're doing is creating a monster!"

"No!' yelled Kan'onji, "I'm getting rid of a bad spirit!"

Just then, an enormous cracking sound filled the air. Ritsu looked over to see cracks appearing in the spirit's skin.

"Oh no!" she moaned. She dropped to her knees. The spirit was falling through a black hole in the ground, but the cracks in his skin were deeper and he erupted in a golden light.

"Oh yeah!" cried Kan'onji for the audience, "Mission accomplished baby!" The audience started chanting his name and Ritsu looked around pensively, waiting for the imminent attack. Ichigo wasn't there with her, so she couldn't fail. Not like the last time he hadn't been there. Like with their mother…

A bright light was shinging behind her. Ritsu whirled around to see a glowing orb land on the roof of the hospital. Streaks of green came out of nowhere to form a froglike hollow body. The jibakurei spirit's head emerged from the body and a white mask came over his features. His eyes became yellow orbs and he let out a terrifying hollow roar.

"W-what is it?" Kan'oji asked Ritsu.

"A hollow." she answered solemnly, "Be ready. It's not mild tempered."

Kan'onji put his hands up to his ears to make his show for the crowd.

"I feel it." He said, "I feel somethin'. That reeks with the scent of a super dangerous spirit." He made a fist and dropped one of his hands, "Now I understand!" he turned towards Ritsu, "You're that other spirit's evil lord and you've come here seeking vengeance!" Ritsu didn't bother listening to anything else he had to say. She grabbed the back of his ridiculous costume and pulled him towards the hospital. Before she could get there though, the hollow did a nose dive of the roof towards her.

"Run!" she yelled at Kan'onji as she threw him to the side. She pulled out her zanpactou and intercepted the hollow. She couldn't get it in one blow however, so she pressed offensive and pushed it to the hospital with her blade between its teeth. She ran it through the doors and crashed it through one of the walls. Then she ran up three flights of stairs towards the roof. When she turned around, Kan'onji was right behind her.

"Where're you going?" she hissed towards him, aware that everything happening was his fault.

"To be the hero." He said quietly. "Do you know how many of the ratings my show pulls in for the network?" Ritsu trying to listen for the hollow, sweatdropped and shook her head. "Twenty-five percent!" he continued. "That means one in every four households watches my show!" Ritsu heard scrapping sounds and shushed him. "Most of those viewers," he continued, ignoring her warning, "are children! That's why I have to be the hero!"

Ritsu pressed her hand over his mouth then. She definitely heard scraping sounds. They weren't coming from the stairwell though, they were coming from…

"Behind us!" She grabbed Kan'onji and ran up the stairs just as the hollow burst out of the wall behind them. The area she had stopped in was too small for her enormous blade. "Hurry up!" she hissed at him, not wanting to get the crowd involved if the hollow flew through the wrong wall.

The frog like creature bounded up the steps after them until Ritsu flew out onto the roof. She pushed Kan'onji to the side then and tackled the hollow with her blade. It had grown back to its normal size by then, so it was getting heavy. Especially since the hollow was making her play defense. It retreated for a moment and then spit something out of its mouth at her. Unfortunately, she couldn't dodge in time and it pinned her to the roof and then hardened.

Ritsu struggled to get out of her bindings, ignoring the fact that Kan'onji was still on the roof. The hollow came extremely close and licked her. She froze as the slimy tongue passed over her check. This creature was disgusting! It pulled back and reared its mouth wide open to bite off her head!

And a cane came out of seemingly nowhere to block the blow. It was Kan'onji, jamming the hollow's mouth open.

"Are ya hurt girl?" he asked her.

"N-no…" she stammered, then she came back to her senses and struggled to get out of the green goo trap. "You better get out of here!" she pleaded, "This may be your fault, but that thing's gonna kill you!"

"No!" Kan'onji replied stoutly, "I know my own strength. And I know the difference between my enemies powers and my own." He turned partially towards Ritsu and made a fist. "Waoaaaaa! Kan'onji ultimate attack!" Lightning swirled around his fist and Ritsu looked on with apprehension. "Cannon Ball!" He opened his fist to reveal a small light blue ball in his palm. He aimed his hand towards Ritsu's encased form on the floor and released his attack. It floated slowly towards her and landed on her chest. Then two things happened simultaneously.

Kan'onji's cane broke and he went flying, and the green goo on RItsu exploded.

"Kan'onji!" she yelled, running towards him. She reached him a moment after he hit the ground. The hollow lunged towards them and she whipped her sword out at it. Kan'onji sat up a moment later to see Ritsu defending him. She pressed for the offensive and managed to cut off one of the hollow's arms.

"Help!" she yelled towards Kan'onji. He saw the hollow retaliate by knocking Ritsu out of her stance. It opened its mouth to hack out the green stuff again, but Kan'onji dashed over with the half of his broken cane and whacked it on the head, sending the goo flying in a different direction while Ritsu stood. It spun to attack him, but Ritsu leapt at it from behind, cutting off the other arm of the hollow. Kan'onji made another cannonball and sent it into the face of the hollow, stunning the beast and knocking off part of its mask.

Ritsu wielded her zanpactou and cut straight down the center of the hollow. She then fell to her knees. Kan'onji was facing the other direction.

"Kan'onji!" she called, directing his attention to the carcass. He watched as the mask disintegrated. Shock was the only word to describe how his face looked when he saw the face of the spirit he had pulled the hole bigger in.

"Wha… but… he can't be! He was the one who…"

"He was the hollow." Ritsu pulled herself to her feet to look at Kan'onji. "When you pulled at that hole, you pulled out the remains of his heart and created that monster." Kan'onji continued to stare at where, just a moment ago, the hollow had been.

"That hole… Then that means… No!" Kan'onji fell to his knees. Ritsu dropped down beside him.

"I'm not gonna say it's alright, but what I am gonna say is that my brother and I live to fight these monsters. We're not the only ones. There's a whole place called soul society that trains people like us to take care of these monsters. Also," Ritsu paused and took a deep breath, "you couldn't have possibly known about what you were doing. Put on theatrics, but don't touch the hole in the future."

Ritsu stood up and jumped off the edge of the roof. She'd seen enough adventure for one night.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Tada! What'd you guys think about how I involved Kan'onji? Was it good or bad? Do you think Ritsu acted erratic or solid in this chapter? Please let me know!**


	10. Chapter 10

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hi there everybody! I'm sorry this chapter is late, I just had a lot going on last week, so... here ya go!**

Chapter Ten

Ritsu woke up the next morning around ten am to find that Ichigo wasn't in his bed. She sat up sleepily with her orange hair standing up in a million directions. Half-asleep, she walked down stairs to the kitchen in her pajamas. She poured herself a cup of coffee and sat on the couch, drinking the coffee to help wake herself up.

"... Something's wrong..." she slurred out. She stood up again and looked at the calendar. A moment later, her coffee was sitting on the island in their lightly colored kitchen and she was flying into the shower upstairs.

"I'M LATE FOR SCHOOL!" she shrieked. About two minutes later she was pulling on her uniform and was flying back down the stairs. She went to grab her coffee, only to find it missing. Hurriedly, she fixed herself another cup and flew out the door. Then she realized something.

"My bag!" She ran back into the house to grab her bag off of the desk in the clinic. When she ran in, it was missing. She ran through, smiling at the patients and looked for her bag.

"Dad!" she called, "I woke up late! Where's my bag?"

"Huh?" came her dad's voice from behind her, "There you are Ritsu! I found your bag this morning and couldn't find you."

"Where is it?" she shrieked at him.

"In the kitchen," he said, confused, "with your coffee..."

"Oh." she said, frazzled. She ran into the kitchen and grabbed her bag. Rushing, she downed the first cup of coffee she had just fixed. Then she grabbed her bag, her second cup, jammed back on her shoes, and ran out the door.

"I am so screwed!" she yelled as she ran to school. She drank her coffee as she ran, burning her tongue on the hot drink. When she finally got there, everybody was looking at the rankings for their class. Orihime and Tatsuki were standing in the front of the lineup.

"Third in the class?" Tatsuki was saying as she lifted her hand to pat Orihime's head, "Pretty smart for a girl Orihime!" Orihime was giggling slightly as Ritsu walked up.

"Ritsu!" Tatsuki said, "You got second!" Ritsu looked at the board, slightly shocked. There was her name, plain as day, second in the class right under Uryuu Ishida. She vaguely recognized the name as someone in their class, but she didn't know him that well. All she knew was that he was in the home-handy-crafts club with Orihime.

"Go Ritsu-kun!" Orihime cheered, bouncing up and down. A red head came out of nowhere towards Orihime and grabbed her from behind. Tatsuki ran over and proceeded to pound the lesbian into the ground.

"That's not how it works Chizuru!" she shouted. Meanwhile, Keigo was standing at the board.

"Ah," he said waving off the bouncing duo, "let the girls get their high scores. At least none of our guys embarrassed us by scoring in the top fifty, right Muzuiro?" He turned to look at the shorter dark haired boy next to him.

"Ah," he said hesitantly, "look again Keigo..." he was pointing at number twenty-three. It was Ichigo.

"Wh-wh-wh-wha?" he shouted, "ICHIGO IS RANKED NUMBER TWENTY-THREE?" He ran over to Ichigo. "You cheater! There's no way you could've possibly scored that high!" Ritsu turned away from the pair, smiling at Keigo's stupidity.

"High scores are a good thing." she said quietly. She walked over to Orihime again. "Hey, Orihime-chan," she started, "do you wanna hang out tonight?"

Orihime turned to look at Ritsu, she'd been watching Tatsuki fight Chizuru.

"Sure!" she said, giving Ritsu a huge smile, "Why not? You can come over to my apartment and I'll make dinner!" Ritsu went slightly green.

"How about you restrain yourself to dessert and I order take-out?" Ritsu proposed to the unreliable cook.

"That sounds good too!" she said, cocking her head to the side as she smiled twice as wide. Ritsu came over to watch Tatsuki next to Orihime.

"This is just annoying..." she muttered.

"Why are you so late Ritsu-kun?" she asked her friend.

"Um... My alarm clock didn't go off this morning..." Ritsu muttered, "I'm actually really surprised that Ichigo got here before me..."

"I thought you were sick." said Orihime, "So I'm really glad you came in because then I thought there's no way you could've been sick because your dad is a doctor so then I thought maybe you'd been abducted by aliens and then were brainwashing you so you'd be like a zombie or something when you finally came in!" Ritsu just laughed and shook her head.

"There's no way the aliens could've gotten me!" she teased her friend, "I sleep in tin-foil pajamas!"

"Tin-foil pajamas?" Orihime said, shocked at her friend's ingenuity. Then she went off into some day dream and Ritsu almost fell to the floor laughing at her friend's antics. When Orihime started taking swipes at mid-air, Ritsu grabbed her wrists.

"Huh?" Orihime said, jolted out of her daydream.

"What were you fighting that time?" she asked her.

"The aliens! They'd gotten new scanners that read through my pajamas and they had me on their space-ship!"

"Oh?" Ritsu said skeptically, "Really? What happened then?" Orihime blushed then and looked at her feet, refusing to say another word. "Come on!" Ritsu said to the clammed girl, "I really wanna know what happened."

"I-I turned into you..." Orihime said quietly.

"Really? Aw, Orihime, that's so adorable!" Ritsu threw her arms around her friend and then pulled her up the stairs and onto the roof. "Show me your stances!" she commanded. Orihime was then put through her paces as Ritsu forced her to spare.

"You certainly have earned your black belt!" Ritsu said, panting slightly. Orihime just beamed at her friend again and then started to prattle about some new show she had started the other day. The two walked back into the building and into their classroom while Ritsu made plans mentally for their hang-out night.

First, they would be making tin-foil pajamas. Then, wearing the tin-foil over their real pajamas, they would watch a couple alien movies. After the alien movies finished, they would be having a fake alien abduction of some poor guy in Ichigo's group. '_Keigo_,' Ritsu decided, '_He'll make an awesome victim!'_ She then proceeded to pull out a notebook and write down the plans.

A moment later, Ritsu needed to use the bathroom, so she went out into the hallway only for Rukia to run into her, Ichigo right behind her. Ritsu ran after them to find they were going on a hollow alert. Rukia pushed Ichigo out of his body once they were out of the school and left it for Ritsu to pick up.

"Damn..." she muttered. She picked up the water sack and ran after the couple, feeling lonely. When she caught up, there was no hollow and the two were arguing. She dropped Ichigo's body and walked away fuming.

She started to go back, but then stopped. School would mean nothing if she couldn't help her brother, so instead of heading back to Orihime like she should've she yelled back to Ichigo.

"I'm going home! Pick up my books!" She ran in the direction of their house, but when she got close enough, she ran off in the direction of Urahara's shop. When she got there, she lifted her hand to knock, but before she could carry out that course of action, the door opened. Tessai was sitting there on the other side.

"So good to see you Kurosaki-san!" he said cheerfully, "If you'll just come inside and wait, I'll go get the boss!" He turned around and walked off as Ritsu came inside the small room in the front end of the building that held the supplies to be sold. She looked at the shelves, seeing out of date groceries and dusty candy sitting there, ready to poison whoever might be stupid enough to consume them.

Footsteps came from the back end as Ritsu sniffed at a can. She couldn't tell exactly what it was.

"So you're back Ritsu-chan…" said Urahara as he came out of the hallway. He gave off a big yawn even though it was almost one o'clock in the afternoon. "I knew you would be…"

"Urahara-san, I'm really sorry to bother you again, but… I'd… Would you please continue my training?" She hung on to the end of her skirt and scrunched it in her hands. Urahara yawned again.

"Out of the gigai…" he muttered, still very tired.

"And how…?" Ritsu asked, confusedly, not quite knowing how to remove her own soul.

"That's right! You weren't there when Ichigo…" He slapped his forehead and shook his head slowly. He yawned again.

"Ururu!" he called. A little girl seemingly appeared out of nowhere with pig tails and two long bluish bangs that hung on either side of her staff. "Can you go find my newest delivery? Ritsu here needs one two. It should say new item and be shaped like a cat."

'_What is he talking about?'_ Ritsu thought to herself. She was terribly confused. Urahara saw her expression and smiled.

"Don't worry, you'll understand in a moment and then we can get you back into your own body. Iti's all fixed up." He smiled at her and somehow this just made her queasy…

"I found it!" called Ururu in her high soprano voice. She walked into the room and held up what looked like a pez dispenser with a cat on the top.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Try one." Urahara responded, watching her closely for her reaction, "You'll figure it all out soon enough." Ritsu took the dispenser warily and studied it. It said 'Soul Candy' on the side so Ritsu figured it must have something to do with getting out of the gigai, or Urahara wouldn't have given it to her.

"Okay." She said, then as warily as she had taken the container, she pushed down on the head of the cat and a green pill popped into her mouth.

What she didn't realize however, was that the cold numbness spreading out from her chest shouldn't be happening and that something was drastically wrong…

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Don't you just love cliffhangers~? I know I do~! Well, from this perspective anyways. Anywho, sorry that this chapter is kinda short. Well, compared to The Road, it's phenominally long, but this isn't The Road, now is it? Oh, look at me rambling! Well, it is the author's _ramblings_ so I guess it's okay. See y'all next time!**

**Hit the Button!**

**You know you want to!**

**Just hit the button already!**

**l  
>V<strong>


	11. Chapter 11

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Alright now, it's official. The universe hates me. This school year, I have had strep throat three times. Now I have tonsillitis. It sucks. Also, plot bunnies are chaining me to my desk to make me type. Save me Kitsune! *Starisia the Shadow Demon's bad side...* *Goes of to kill Lavi from DGM* (long story) (Blame Starisia...)  
><strong>

Chapter Eleven

Urahara frowned as a numb expression filled Ritsu's face. Her soul should have popped out already. Something was wrong. She collapsed on the floor.

"Ururu!" Urahara called, "Get my cane!" The small girl ran and grabbed the cane. The second that she came back, Ritsu's body stood up. Ritsu was still aware inside of herself, but she was truly confused at what was going on.

"Urahara-san…" Her mouth said, "Why didn't I separate from my body? Wasn't that what that candy was supposed to do? I…" Ritsu was speechless on the inside. Something had taken hold of her body. It was almost like she was a separate entity from her body. A cold tendril enwrapped her, and Ritsu's mind stopped functioning in active thought. Instead, her mind was forced to delve into all of her memories and each moment was ripped from her.

Urahara hid his face behind his fan and looked at the girl in front of him. She knew who she was and had a guess at what the pill was supposed to do, but something was off…

"Kurosaki-san…" Urahara said, "Why don't you allow me to use my cane? Maybe the pill was defective, or it could be that the pill only takes effect after your soul has been removed the first time…" Ritsu's eyes flashed with something and Urahara's eyes narrowed.

"Maybe it just needs time?" she asked. Urahara raised his cane. Something was definitely off. Ritsu would have gone along with whatever he had suggested. Whatever was in the gigai in front of him, it was not Ritsu Kurosaki. Now that it was evident, Urahara could drop the act. He took his cane from Ururu and handed her his fan. The gigai watched him with wariness in its supposedly innocent eyes.

"Who are you?" Urahara said, deadliness filling his voice.

"What do you mean Urahara-san?" it asked in Ritsu's tones.

"I mean exactly what I said." He narrowed his eyes and aimed the end of his cane at her. "Who are you?"

"I'm Kurosaki Ritsu, Urahara-san!" It protested. It took a step back as Urahara took a step forward. Without warning, it turned and fled.

"Tessai, Ururu, Jinta!" the shopkeeper called, "We have a wayward soul to catch."

Elsewhere, Ichigo was fuming. Ritsu had actually thrown his body to the ground rather than drop it, and as a result he felt like he had been run over by a truck. Still though, there was the incident from earlier to think of.

"Rukia," he started, "What do you think-" He had turned to look at his raven haired companion, only to discover that she was gone. Again.

_'Dammit…'_ he thought. _'Just when I need them, they disappear…'_ He stood up from his desk and made his way out into the hallway.

"Now…" he said to himself, "What was that guy's name again? Amatesu Isidu? Nah, that's not it… Ame, Aman, Amna… God dammit what the hell was his name? Icru… Imada… Amed…"

"Do you mean Uryuu Ishida?" came a voice from behind him. He jumped and spun around. Orihime was standing there, looking as innocent as anyone possibly could.

"Uh, yeah!" Ichigo wildly tried to think up an excuse, "Uh, I was just uh… Sayin' his name to myself cause it's so cool!" He would have smacked himself if it would not have given away his lie. A bead a sweat gathered on his forehead. Luckily, Orihime was gullible enough to go along with what he had said.

"He's cool too," Orihime continued, "Not just his name. He's amazing in the home handicrafts club!"

"Home… Handicrafts?" Ichigo asked in a chocked voice.

"Umhmm!" Orihime confirmed, "Come on, I'll show you!" Orihime led the way to the adjacent classroom where the home handicrafts club was currently in session. Ichigo and Orihime watched silently while a young man fixed a practically ruined bear.

He had chin length raven colored hair and glasses. His eyes were covered with glasses that glinted in the light and kept people from seeing his blue eyes. He was tall and lean and wore a curious bracelet on his right wrist. It was a silver chain with a white cross hanging from it. Ichigo paid no attention to it however, he just tried to keep himself out of sight of the young man as he stood to head home for the day.

Urahara and company searched throughout the city for the gigai in which Ritsu's soul was imprisoned. He had a nasty suspicion of what was happening to the shinigami-daiko, and for once he prayed to God that he was wrong. A slight trace of reatisu was all that the group of four had to go on. At one point, Urahara lost the trail completely.

"Tessai-san?" he inquired. His darker skinned assistant took the lead, using a special kido to help locate the whereabouts of Ritsu and her gigai. _'If we don't find her soon…'_ he thought, _'then her memories will-' _His thoughts were interrupted by the reatisu of countless hollows.

"Damn!" he cursed aloud, "Jinta, Ururu, go take care of the hollows. Tessai and I will find the gigai!" The four split into two groups of two and went to their separate tasks.

"Urahara-san." Tessai stopped outside of the park near Karakura High that bordered the river. Urahara stepped in front of him and grasped the two separate parts of his cane. The bottom half of the cane slid off to reveal a slim blade. He held the blade by the curved handle of the cane and held the sheath, or the bottom of the cane, in his other hand. Tessai simply cracked his knuckles and stretched his hands.

"Let's go." Urahara said. The two entered the park with a deep sense of worry weighing them down.

The gigai made its way through the city with wild patners and cutbacks and anything it could think of to give itself more time. Finally, it settled in a very tall tree in a park by a river.

"Now…" it muttered, "To find out who exactly this girl is…" The gigai closed its eyes to delve into itself. It opened its eyes to see the soul of Ritsu Kurosaki surrounded by chains of ice and memory drainers. Ritsu's eyes were haunted. Her memories had reached the point of the day when her mother died. The gigai watched on an external screen as the memories were sucked out of her.

A half hour later, the memories had progressed to the current point in time. The gigai watched as Ritsu was brutally thrown onto a stalagmite in Urahara's training ground. It watched as she woke up and watched as she interacted with the couple that Rukia and Ichigo had become. It grinned as the screen went blank. Ritsu was empty.

The gigai opened its eyes in the outside world to find a sword pointed at its throat.

"Who are you?" Urahara repeated, staring into the mocking brown eyes that now appeared almost gray.

"Urahara-san?" it said in a confused voice as it pressed itself against the tree, "I'm Kurosaki Ritsu!" Fake tears rose to its eyes as it stared at the sword, "Why are you pointing a sword at me? Did I break a law or something?"

Urahara did not remove his blade from its throat although everything from the gigai's tone to its body language suggested that it truly was Kurosaki Ritsu. Instead of responding to the fake questioning, he grabbed the gigai's collar and pulled it away from the trunk.

"What are you doing Urahara-san?" it cried. Urahara ignored it and roughly shoved his cane through its forehead. A pill shot out behind it and Tessai caught it.

"I will analyze this as soon as we get back. Please pass down the gigai so that I may carry it for you sir!" Urahara had withdrawn the sheath part of the cane and pushed it through the gigai's forehead again. Out came Ritsu's soul, but she fell from the tree. Tessai ran and threw himself to the ground to catch her. She landed safely in his arms without a scratch. Tessai gently set her upright against the base of the tree and caught the gigai as it was thrown down.

"Kurosaki-san…" Urahara said gently after he had jumped out of the tree, "Kurosaki-san…" Urahara shook her shoulder, but she did not respond to the stimuli. "Tessai-san," he addressed his assistant, "You carry the gigai. I'll carry Kurosaki-san." Tessai nodded and Urahara sheathed his blade and stuck the cane through his obi. He then proceeded to pick up Kurosaki-san bridal style and carry her towards the shop. When they reached the edge of the tree line in the park however, they were met with the sight of a menos grandes exiting hueco mundo. Rukia was running after Ichigo as he ran after Uryuu.

"Ichigo!" she yelled, "No! Come back! You can't handle a menos-" Urahara had shifted Ritsu's weight into one arm and had used a kido to bind and silence Rukia. He readjusted Ritsu and came into the corner of Rukia's vision as he examined the reatisus around him. Several of the reatisus that surrounded Ichigo on a daily basis had changed slightly.

"Urahara…" Rukia mumbled. She was only able to see something orange hanging over Urahara's arm, but she had no idea what it was.

"Kuchiki-san," he said, "I'll release your waist up, but only if you promise to behave. Blink twice if you understand." Rukia blinked twice and immediately was able to turn to see him.

"Ritsu!" she called. She struggled to stand, but her legs were still frozen in place. "Urahara! What happened to her? What's wrong?" Urahara came up next to her and laid Ritsu on the ground.

"A nogori-jouzai.(memory pill)" Urahara answered, a deadly seriousness in his eyes.

"What?" Rukia stammered out, shock opening her eyes wide, "How could it be a nogori-jouzai? I thought they were eliminated due to the margin of error based on if it was absorbed by allies or one of our own!"

"They were, Kuchiki-san." Urahara said mourously, "Or at least they should've been. Unfortunately, one has gotten ahold of Kurosaki-san. Let us just pray that he doesn't react too badly upon finding out..."

"If I know Ichigo," Rukia started, "then if he finds out, not even going to hell would be enough to satisfy or avoid his wrath. You would forfeit your life, your afterlife, and anything else in the world that might remind him of you."

"Well now," said Urahara, "that seems to be a problem. Speaking of problems, I'd better call in Ururu and Jinta to help with the small fry in this one." Urahara gave a short sharp high pitched whistle and a moment later, an explosion went off by Ichigo, killing off a lot of the hollows.

"Sorry we're late Kurosaki-san, Urahara-san." Ururu said with a small bow. Urahara quickly pushed Ritsu behind Rukia and waved to Ichigo.

"Kurosaki-san!" he called, "thought you might need a hand. Why don't you let us take care of the small fry and you go concentrate on that big guy. Also, you should probably get starter before it's too late."

"Hey, I have a question first." Ichigo looked him straight in the eye. "Where's my sister?"

"She's guarding your friends." Urahara managed to say it without even a stutter or slight hesitation. Ichigo looked unsure but he nodded and went to reconvene with Uyuu.

"Let's go Uryuu!" he yelled, "Let's go chop that but-ugly thing down!" Ichigo ran off as Uyuu tried to stop him. After it failed, Uryuu sighed and watched Ichigo get thrown back on impact.

Rukia tried to stand again to go to the shinigami-daiko, but she still could not move below her waist.

"Urahara!" she cried, "Are you trying to get Ichigo killed? Those two alone aren't enough to go against a menos grande! You know that!"

"It's for his own good." Urahara said without missing a beat, "And possibly yours too. Either way though, this is a battle that must be fought." Urahara was not not an idiot, he knew that this would force Ichigo up to a new level of precision and of endurance. '_It might even be enough to stop _them _when they come..._' he mused to himself.

Across the field, Uryuu was discovering the power of Ichigo's reatisu. He was amazed, slightly scared, but at the same time, he was slightly dubious. How could it be possible for someone to posses so much reatisu? It was insane! Suddenly, a plan popped into his head. He took his hand off of the blade and turned to Ichigo.

"Alright Kurosaki,"he said brusquely, "this is what we'll do..."

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**I've always wanted to end a chapter like that... Yeah, I have absolutely no idea when I'll get out the next chapter... Sorry 'bout that...**

**Hit the button!**

**You know you want to!**

**It's right there!**

**l**  
><strong>V<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Wow, I got this out in less than a week... This is an interesting developement... **

Chapter Twelve

Rukia started as a hand grabbed at the back of her school shirt. She half turned with her hands in the position for her favorite offensive kido spell and the words half formed on her lips, but they died off as soon as she saw who was grabbing at her. It was Ritsu.

''Ritsu!" she shouted, "Urahara-san!" The blonde turned from the slightly ridiculous sight in front of him to confront a far more serious situation. Ritsu was conscious, but not awake. Her hand was grasping Rukia's shirt and her eyes were open. The eyes that were usually so warm and brown were almost crimson in color with only a faint trace of brown in the irises. Her reatisu was fluctuating rapidly. It was a miracle that Ichigo could not feel it.

Urahara crouched down next to Ritsu and planted his cane in the ground. Using a special phrase, he bound her in place with a kido that would contain her reatisu.

"Bakudo seventy-six! Baindo ken kakushibasho!" (bind and place to hide something (Bind and conceal)) he called. He held his right arm parallel to the ground and to the length of Ritsu's torso. His left hand was positioned behind it in the center of his forearm. The first two fingers pointed at the sky while the rest folded into his palm. After gathering his reatisu in the cup of the fist in his right hand, he swerved his left hand around, grabbed his fingers, and then traced a dome over Ritsu. The air took on a slight purple tinge under the area Urahara had traced.

Rukia frowned. Urahara traced a shield over Ritsu, then she seemed to ripple. After a moment, she and her reatisu completely disappeared.

"Urahara!" she yelled. A millisecond later, there was an enormous spike in the surrounding reatisu.

Urahara and Rukia glanced behind them to see a red light gather in front of the long pointed nose of the gigantic menos grande.

_'A cero...'_ he thought as his eyes narrowed. Ritsu would have to wait a moment. This was more important.

She half woke and reached out, knowing something familiar was surrounding her. Her eyes were half open, but all she could see was gray. She grasped something slightly stiff. It felt like... Like... She did not know the name. Something hit her ears in the form of what she thought was an intake of breath. A... A gasp? She still could not remember. Something was off... The thing she was grasping shifted and she felt her heart go faster. Something was wrong! Panic rose inside of her and exploded outwards. Her back arched slightly and something came swimming into view as blurry colors... There was... tan, and... green... and... and... yellow? No, that couldn't be right... Could it?

The colors moved and another color swam into view and blocked the other colors... It was... Purple? Was that it? Was that the color she was looking at? Were they even called colors? She couldn't remember... Her hand fell from the thing she was grabbing and covered her eyes. She managed to move the other hand onto her... Her cheek? Could that be right? She had no idea...

Slowly, she put her hands on the ground next to her on either side. Cautiously, she sat up. Everything seemed to be moving, so she brought up her... Knees maybe? To her chest and leaned her face onto them. She raised her hands to what she thoughts were known as her ears and covered them while trying to wait for the world to settle. When it did not after a few minutes, she slowly lowered herself to the ground and buried her nose in the... in the... the... Something wet slid its way down her cheek. She lifted a... Finger to catch it and tasted it. It was... salty? It was called... It was a...

"Tear?" she whispered. She jumped at the sound of her voice, startled at the sound. Everything was wrong, wrong because she did not know it, wrong because, somewhere deep inside her, she felt she _should_ know it. Everything was wrong! She pulled herself up again and reached for the colors floating next to her. Her hand hit it and bounced off. Frowning, she tried again. The same thing happened. Agitated, she finally realized that part of the problem was her... She had her own... Energy... No... That wasn't it! It wasn't called energy! That was wrong!

"What is it?" she demanded of herself. Again, she jumped at the sound of her voice. The... Energy... Grew stronger with her fright. She calmed herself, and some of the energy was pulled inside of her. With the feeling of its retreat, she managed to pull in more... and more... and more! In a few minutes, she managed to pull most of it in. It was getting awfully hot though... More liquid fell down her cheek. She caught it to taste it again, but it wasn't a tear... It was... Sweat? Whatever it was, it was starting to fall off of her in massive quantities. It was literally all over her. She ignored though, because she wanted out of the colors. She wanted to know what the familiar energy had been outside of the colors. She wanted to know. Period.

Ichigo saw the massive blast firing and ran forward. He couldn't let that hit anyone else. With an uncanny burst of speed, he ran into the red light and blocked the massive blast. He had no idea what the hell it was, but he knew it _had_ to be stopped. With excruciating power, it knocked into his sword and almost sent him flying. He gritted his teeth though and stuck it out. He would make it because he had too. With a scream and a massive wave of power of is own, he sent it flying into the menos grande.

It struck the creature and went flying up the thing's length, forcing it to retreat into its crack in the sky. All of the smaller hollows followed it into the gaping hole before the menos pinched it into a seem and then out of existence. Ichigo stood there for a moment.

"Victory!" he shouted. Uryuu looked on, stunned at his stupidity, his power, his courage, and his stupidity. Ichigo held up a happy 'V' with his first two fingers before collapsing. His sword lost its shape and began to waver while Ichigo's power managed to crush him. It fluctuated rapidly and Uryuu ran forward.

At the same time, Ritsu managed to pull in the last of her energy. She reached out to touch the colors and they shattered. Then the sweat increased tremendously. Her hair raised up around her and she was pulled to her feet by the need to relieve a building pressure. Urahara turned around sharply at the break of his kido. That was a high level kido! How could she have...

Rukia turned at the sudden increase in heat and panicked immediately. Ritsu was emitting some sort of pressing reatisu and something ominous was filling the air. She looked about ready to join with Ichigo in the current state of stability.

"Urahara!" Rukia yelled, "Let me free!" The scientist was too preoccupied with studying Ritsu to hear Rukia, much less answer her. Ritsu wasn't letting out any reatisu, but the way her hair was standing on end, he would bet that she had somehow managed to pull it all into her soul... How was that possible? It looked like there was about to be a recoil though, so there was no way that it was perfect... At the current moment at least.

Her energy exploded. It whipped all around her and knocked her down. A girl who she had caught a glimpse of before she was blown away. The green hatted man who had been the one to seal her away was also blown away. She hit the ground hard head first and everything went fuzzy around her. Something was definitely wrong. She wished she had just stayed put. Maybe that man actually knew this would happen...

Something caught at her foot and Ritsu was flung into the air as her energy created a tornado around her. She was flung around, bashed into the ground, rocks, and all other sorts of things. After a few moments, she was knocked out.

Uryuu and Ichigo were also blown away by the immense reatisu that had exploded on the side of the field. Ichigo's reatisu continued to destabilize, so Uryuu would ignore the explosive power for now. In his pride as a Quincy, Uryuu wouldn't let Ichigo self-destruct. He started towards him and a tick-mark developed on his forehead. Ichigo had been knocked unconscious. A second tick-mark developed on his forehead. Once he saved Ichigo, he would have to find who on earth else could have such high reatisu. Yet another tick-mark appeared on Uryuu's forehead. No doubt it was a shinigami there to fight off the menos. Uryuu growled under his breath.

He ran to Kurosaki and placed his foot on the hilt of the warping blade. Immediately, power surged through his arm and it felt like it would tear to pieces. Gritting his teeth at the pain, Uryuu started to shoot his arrows as fast as he could into the air. Blood dripped from his fingers and down his arm. Kurosaki's reatisu began to stabilize bit by bit, but Uryuu did not know if it would be enough. If he couldn't get it to stabilize soon, his arm would literally be blown into pieces.

After what seemed to be an eternity to Uryuu, the daiko's reatisu had stabilized enough for the Quincy to be able to stop. He let his bow disband into particles of reishi and he collapsed to his knees with his arms shaking. Panting, he pulled himself back to his feet and made his way back up the broken path he and Kurosaki had made on their first way through. Uryuu wouldn't be able to rest until he discovered what had caused the massive surge of pure reatisu. When he reached the field, he was unprepared for the sight that greeted his eyes.

The female shinigami, Rukia Kuchiki, was laying n front of a tree to his left. Blood streamed from a shallow wound above her right eye. She seemed to be unconscious. To his right, he saw the man who had caught Kurosaki's attention before the fight with the menos. He was standing and observing what was happening in the center of the field. It was a gigantic cyclone formed of the reatisu from the explosion. Uryuu felt it was familiar, but he couldn't place it.

The fiery heat blasting from it seemed to have components very similar to Kurosaki's own massive power. Uryuu frowned. How could that be? Each person's reatisu signature was distinctive and unique in almost every aspect. It could only be that similar to Kurosaki's if... If it were Kurosaki's twin!

"Is that..." Uryuu began, facing the scientist, "Kurosaki Ritsu?" Urahara turned to the Quincy, very pleased with his answer.

"Yes." Urahara said curtly, "It is. Now watch."

Uryuu turned back to watch and his eyes widened in shock. Ritsu was now suspended in the eye of the storm. Her brown eyes were open and shaded over with gray. The reatisu surrounding her seemed to give one last pulse before it all blew away in wisps. Ritsu fell out of the sky and landed in a heap on the ground. Her eyes were now half open, but she wasn't moving. Urahara took the chance to approach the semi-conscious girl. He monitored her for a moment before picking her up.

"Come." he said to Uryuu. He headed towards the completely unconscious Ichigo and Uryuu begrudgingly followed him. "Can you carry him?" Urahara asked of the Quincy.

"If I had an incentive to," Uryuu replied coldly, "then he would not prove a problem." Urahara smirked. He set Ritsu down gently on the ground, being mindful of her head. Then he pulled Ichigo over his shoulder and stumbled off towards his shop.

"You can carry the girl then!" he called back. He was sure that the boy wouldn't let the girl lay there, cold and unprotected especially when it was evident that there was something immensely wrong with her. After the spectacle with her reatisu, the Quincy wouldn't leave her all alone. He glanced back to see Uryuu hesitantly kneeling down next to her.

Uryuu slowly went down on one knee to pick her up. She was a shinigami, but she was also injured. Also, his sensei would never leave her there. Uryuu brought down his other knee and sat back on his heels. He had failed his sensei by using the hollow bait. He had failed everyone. When his sensei had been killed, he had been too scared to step out and defend him. He had failed his sensei in almost every way.

"I've… failed you…" he said, a tear slipping down his cheek, "Grandfather…" Uryuu then made a silent resolution. If only for shinigami he knew personally, he would protect and fight next to them. With that done, he scooped Ritsu up in his arms bridal fashion and ran after the crazy shop keeper/scientist.

The two arrived at the shop weak and out of breath. Urahara staggered in first and dumped Ichigo right inside the door and staggered to a chair in the corner. Uryuu came in a moment later and gently laid Ritsu down next to her twin. He then collapsed next to her. Tessai appeared next to Urahara.

"Hello Boss," he greeted him, "I am still in the process of analyzing the nagori-jouzai, so I have been unable to determine whether or not Miss Kurosaki-kun's memories can be re captured for her use."

"That's okay Tessai," he answered with a gasp, "Just… take care of those three…" Urahara gestured towards the now three unconscious teenagers at his door. Tessai nodded and first carried Ichigo to the back to heal. After a few tense minutes, he came for Uryuu. Instead of carrying him back, he simply laid the Quincy out and started the healing kido. About halfway through, he woke up.

Uryuu woke up with a soft green light shining over him. His head hurt like a pack of elephants had been tramping around inside. Slowly but surely, the sensation began to disappear. He was fairly certain he had a concussion. Something was nagging at him, but he couldn't think straight enough to figure out what it was. The light… What was it? Uryuu couldn't figure it out and he quickly drifted back under.

Urahara had a tense few moments when the Quincy seemed to wake. Fortunately, he didn't make any connections between the kido and the possibility of shinigami. He probably had a concussion and a broken rib or two. Whatever it was, Urahara didn't care much because Tessai would clear it out quickly enough. And then the Quincy would be indebted to him. Urahara brought out his fan as the telltale smirk spread across the rough canvass of his face.

Tessai carried the Quincy to the back and laid him out on a futon next to the daiko. Silently, he went back up and gently picked up the female shinigami-daiko. He took her to a separate room from the two males and laid her out on the futon. From the surface, she appeared fine, but her reatisu was still fluctuating wildly. Then there was the matter of the nagori-jouzai to take care of. He started the kido for the reatisu stabilization and waited patiently for reatisu output to stabilize. It took quite a bit of time and effort to reign in the massive force of her reatisu, even for an ex-captain.

Tessai sighed as he stopped the kido and stretched once he had gotten back on his feet. Quickly, he walked into the room where the pill was being analyzed. The results had come out of the printer. Tessai frowned. From what he was seeing, Ritsu's memories wouldn't be able to be recovered. A silent tear slid down his cheek. The fiery vibrant girl that had been so like the third seat from his squad would never be the same. He shook his head and walked to the boys' room.

Ichigo's reatisu hadn't been nearly as difficult to reign in as his sisters. Tessai knew that the Quincy probably had a lot to do with that. The Quincy was in a stable condition and liable to wake soon. He probably should be moved before he did wake. Also, his memory should be modified to exclude Kurosaki Ritsu. Sighing, Tessai went to get the population memory modifier. First he set it to exclude spiritually aware people and he wiped Ritsu out of their memories. Then he took the individual memory modifier and walked into the boys' room. He erased Ritsu first from the Quincy's memories and then turned to Ichigo.

"I'm sorry Kurosaki-san," he said quietly with sadness permeating his voice, "I'm truly sorry." He erased Ritsu from her twin's memories.

The rest of the day was spent modifying the memories of the spiritually aware who knew Ritsu. By the time the sun went down, no one except for those select few in Urahara Shoten knew the name Kurosaki Ritsu.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Well, this will significantly effect the story. But how will it effect Ichigo? Will some part of Ritsu hang around and haunt him? Or will he become slightly less mourous only to get worse when he sees her? Hm? What do you guys think will happen? Please, somebody review! *sad face***

**Come on, you know you want to!**

**Hit the button!**

**It's right there!**

**Review!**

**l  
>V<strong>


	13. Chapter 13

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Hey everybody! I'm back! I put a lot of time and effort into this chapter, so please read it nicely and let me know if you see any mistakes!**

Chapter Thirteen

She woke up feeling warm, not warm as in hot, but warm as in safe. She was tucked in with blankets and no one was trying to hurt her. Slowly, she opened her eyes to see a green ceiling. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. Something was still off though, she still couldn't remember much.

"Ah," came a voice from behind her, "you're awake." She twisted to see the man who had been there in the field.

"Who…" she started, "Are you?" The man shook his head and walked into the room with his cane swung over his shoulder.

"Now then," he said quietly looking at her from under the brim of his hat, "are you sure you really don't know?" She frowned as she looked at him, knowing that there was something about him that was familiar. Pain twisted in her chest and she gasped at the phantom, pressing her hand to it.

"So you don't remember, but your body does." He took a step closer to her. "Let's see about your soul." Before she could move, he had swung his cane off of his shoulder and stabbed it through her forehead. She was forced back, but at the same time she fell forward. Slowly, she looked down to see herself lying face down on the futon, brown eyes empty, staring at nothing.

Although her head told her to panic, her instincts told her not too, as if this was something normal…

"What…" she said warily, "What did you do?" He smirked and beckoned for her to follow.

"If you come with me, you might just find out." He started to walk out of the room. She jumped to her feet and saw her odd costume. Her feet were shod with a strange sandal and socks. Above her feet, she wore traditional men's black clothing and a white obi held it together. Underneath was a white hakama. She frowned and followed after the green robed man.

Urahara led Ritsu into a main room in the back of his store where a hatch was located to go into the training area. He opened it and disappeared down before Ritsu came into the room. When she entered the room, she spotted the hole in the floor immediately. She walked over to it and cautiously looked down. A very long ladder led the way to the floor.

"Whoa," she said as she dizzily tried to steady herself. Unfortunately, her balance was not at its best and she fell through the hole. Somehow, she managed to catch herself. She'd gathered some of her energy and pushed it against her feet, effectively standing in midair. She was about three-quarters of the way to the ground.

"I caught myself…" she murmured, feeling like this wasn't new. Hesitantly, she tried to take a step forward, but all she managed to do was fall off of her momentary platform. She crashed to the ground painfully, glad that she hadn't caught herself sooner.

"So you've discovered that particular ability again." Urahara said, making it sound like she'd been able to do that before. Technically she hadn't, but she had used gathered reatisu to bolster a jump unconsciously all the time before.

"What?" she asked, eyeing him suspiciously. This man sounded like he knew her. He sounded like he was her friend, but something made her feel wary… Something told her not to trust him completely, but to act like she did… This something confused her.

"Do you…" she stammered out, "Do you know me?" He whipped a fan out of nowhere to cover the bottom half of his face.

"Yes." he replied quietly.

"Do you know my name? What was I like? Do I have any family? Am I an orphan?" She would've continued, but she couldn't remember anything else that might have been important.

"Your name…" he said quietly. "Your family name was Masaki." The name sounded wonderful. It was completely right, making her feel safe and secure, but at the same time, it wasn't right… She filed that away for later use.

"What about my given name?" He shook his head at that.

"I'm afraid I cannot tell you. You will have to either discover it for yourself or pick a new name."

"Oh…" Her voice trailed off softly as disappointment overwhelmed her.

"You were very carefree." Urahara said, trying to cheer her up, "And you fought for those you loved with deadly precision. Your family…" Urahara stopped himself, trying to think up a cover story very quickly. "Your mother died when you were nine. Your father was abusive, so you and your older brother and two younger sisters were taken from him. Unfortunately, you were separated in the adoption process. I adopted you, but you've always been slightly resentful of me separating you from your remaining family…"

She stiffened at the end of his tale. Parts of it rang true, clear as day, but other were carefully crafted lies… She shook her head again, straining against the blank darkness still hovering over her. No matter how she pushed or pulled, nothing came first. All she knew now was that this man was only telling her parts of the truth.

"You should probably come up with something for us to call you for know." Urahara said quietly.

"Us?" she asked, noticing his use of the plural. After a second, she raised her energies up, focusing on the surrounding. A sickeningly sweet 'flavor' brushed against her senses. This was the green robed man. He had a lot of these energies, and they were potent. She strained her senses farther. The 'flavor' that she detected next was cinnamon… Next came the 'flavor' of… She had to push even harder to detect this one… It was… Caramel? There were traces of a third flavor, but not enough for her to catch it.

"Three…" she murmured quietly, "There are three others." she said a little louder. The man nodded.

"What do you want to be called?" he asked. Urahara whipped out his fan and studied her from under the brim of his hat as she thought.

"I…" Ritsu bit her lip and thought, straining against the darkness once more. Tension built up in the air around her as an image surrendered itself from the blank canvass that had once held her memories. A red fruit… with a green top… covered with… with seeds?

"Ichi… Ichigo…" she whispered, the name causing some sort of heaviness to settle over her heart, "I want to be called Ichigo!" A small smirk made its way onto Urahara's rough face; hidden safely behind his fan. Some part of her, no matter how small, had reason to remember. Some part of her had locked them all away. With enough stimuli, she would remember, if only fragments…

Urahara turned from the newly dubbed Ichigo and unsheathed his blade from within his cane. Silently, his fan slid into his sleeve.

"Sing, Benihime." Urahara turned to her and swung his released blade, sending a crimson wave towards her. She dodged, and her hand automatically went to draw a blade from a sheathe on her back.

Ichigo had no idea how she managed to do it, but she managed to defend herself time after time. Even though her mind had no idea what to do, her reflexes were toned to do this. He stayed on with his level of attack and at one point; she saw an opening in his stance and took the chance.

Urahara purposely left himself open at intervals throughout the fight. After a particularly hard swing of Benihime, Ichigo took advantage of one such opening. Urahara strained backwards to avoid the deadly precision of her blade and managed to overreach himself. His eyes widened a fraction as he fell onto his back. Ichigo ended with her sword pointed at Urahara's throat. She didn't have any real need to hurt him, so instead she pushed his hat off of his head and slipped it on her own head.

"I win." she stated simply. She had no clue how she'd done it and honestly didn't care. For some reason, the earlier heaviness was replaced with such ecstasy that she was wary. Why was defeating this man so important? Why did she take his hat? What did…?

Ichigo collapsed to a heap on the ground and Urahara smirked. He had a feeling that when 'Ichigo' came back, she would be Ritsu.

* * *

><p>Urahara climbed slowly up the ladder after stretching Ritsu out. He'd left her the hat though, she'd earned it and he had spares. After grabbing one such spare from the back of the shop, he went to check on the boys.<p>

Uryuu was still unconscious and that worried Urahara the slightest bit. He really hadn't suffered any major injuries. The worst that the Quincy had gotten was from helping to stabilize Ichigo's spiritual pressure. So why wasn't he up?…

A blue glow came to life out of the corner of his eye and hot reishi burned behind his back.

"So you are awake…" Urahara mused as the image of Uryuu laying on the pallet flickered out of existence, "And you have your own version of shunpo…"

"It's called hirenkyaku." Uryuu said stiffly, "And don't make the mistake of comparing it to your flawed shunpo, shinigami." He spit out the name, his tone brittle, wanting to make the distinction as insulting as possible.

Urahara just smiled and shook his head.

"Would you mind putting down your arrows?" Urahara asked. "I think you still might be worried about Ritsu-san. And if you are," Urahra's simple smile turned into a frightening smirk, "I have a proposal that might benefit the both of us…" He dropped to the floor and sat as the arrow point disappeared from his back. Uryuu took the opportunity to stand over him in an intimidating manner.

"Tell. Me. What. Happened. Now." Urahara silently slid his fan out of his sleeve and began to explain what he had in mind…

Ichigo faded in and out of consciousness, catching bits and pieces of a conversation that sounded very unusual…

"Deadly reatisu… Insuppressible… Fiery… Kidnap… Execution… learning… name… zanpakto…

"Pride as a… Absolutely not… Sensei… Escape… He can…"

Snipits of the conversation floated around in Ichigo's head until he was awake enough to realize they had stopped. Blearily, he cracked open an eyelid. As a ceiling swam into focus, all he could really think was that it wasn't his ceiling… He went to sit up and the room spun. Promptly, he laid flat and passed out. Getting up was _not_ worth that much effort.

* * *

><p>She walked with her footsteps hitting the ground without a sound. All around her was mist. There wasn't any visible way out. Only the eerie sounds of a dead forest and shifting rays of darkness surrounded her. When it was clear that walking didn't do anything, she sat. Why was she here? How did she get here? Wait… Her reason… Had something to do with… Her name?<p>

"Was it… Ichigo?..." Her soprano rang out into the mists, echoing and jumping back at her. When it finally died, the mist got even heavier.

'No!' it seemed to tell her, 'That's not your name! Think harder!' she thought, trying to break through the blank canvass again.

"Ma… Masa… Masaki?" The mist surrounding her vanished, sucked off into the rest of the void that surrounded her. She found herself in the middle of a clearing. It wasn't the way someone would picture a clearing though… She was standing on the underside of the branches of an immense tree that grew out of the sky. Behind her came the slither of cloth rubbing against bark.

A figure slowly emerged from the mist. It was a woman that wore silver robes with a black cape. The cape had a hood drawn up and over the eyes of the lady. Brown hair spilled from either side of her face and to about her knees. Her shape wasn't substantial though, it seemed to be ethereal…

"_Your name should come to you child…"_she said, her voice sounding ancient and young, smooth and rasping, deep and high all at once. It was an endless voice, belonging to a being who held all the knowledge of the world, and was saddened by what little good was left in it.

She concentrated on the voice and the meaning of the lady's words. Her thoughts went automatically to the name she had presented to reveal the clearing.

"Masaki was… my… mother's name…" she began to shake and dropped to one knee. "I… I… I…" She shook more violently, straining to remember and at the same time trying to forget. "Kuro… Kuro… Kurosaki was… was my… my father's name…" She dropped her other knee and fell forward onto her hands. "I… I am… R… Ri… Rit.. su?" Ritsu collapsed fully and the woman from the mist let a smile drift over her lips.

"_You may not know me yet, but you will. First you must know yourself Masaki Kurosaki Ritsu…"_

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Well? What do you guys think? Also, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to Beta for me? Grammar and spelling aren't usually an issue, I just need someone to motivate me more... I'm really bad about consistant updates... I always abandon you... Some one help? Please?**

**Just hit the button!**

**You know you want to!**

**Review!**

**l  
>V<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

******Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! I've now had a total of four rounds of strep this year AND I'm recovering from a round of flu. Do you know how much it sucks to miss Honors Biology in a school that's very academically advanced? And yes, congrats, you've finally gotten me to reveal that I go to a private school. Have fun with that tidbit!**

When Ichigo finally awoke for good, it took him a while to come around. It was warm… With a jolt, he sat up straight. He'd gotten knocked out… Hadn't he? He thought back. '_I remember fighting the menos grande…'_ he mused, '_I remember the… the cero? That's what Rukia called it anyways. I don't remember what happened after that…'_ Ichigo was suddenly aware of another presence in the room. He jumped to his feet, holding a defensive stance that could easily shift into offensive. Quietly, he looked around at his surroundings.

"Good job Kurosaki-san!" came an overly cheerful and awfully familiar voice. The only problem was that it was behind him. "Now we just need to increase that reaction time of yours~!" Ichigo sprang away just in time as a massive blast hit the floor where he had been standing.

"URAHARA!" Another annoying familiar voice shouted, "You said I could have the first shot at him!"

"Eh," Urahara started, "right, I did; didn't I?" With that shaky statement, the shopkeeper went to disappear into thin air with no word of warning for the daiko. He changed his mind though, and shoved a small green pill into Ichigo's hand.

"Kon?" he asked. Urahara nodded then vanished. After all, if you're the master mind behind an enormous plan, you very well can't help it along if you're slain by a Quincy can you?

Ichigo shoved Kon into his mouth, not even taking the time to wipe off the pill. If that shout belonged to who he thought it did, he had no time to waste. He burst away from his body in his shinigami robes and grabbed for the enormous sword on his back. To his surprise, it wasn't there.

"Looking for this Kurosaki?" Ichigo spun around to see Uryuu standing about twenty yards away.

"Give that back!" Ichigo fumed, angry more at himself for not seeing the know-it-all sneak up.

"Why?" Uryuu answered, an evil glint coming into his eyes. Here he was given yet another chance to prove how superior quincies were to shinigami. "You can't get it back on your own?" Ichigo bristled and ran towards the annoying class-mate.

"You'll pay for that Ishida!" he shouted. Uryuu turned and ran. Ichigo chased him all over the city, shouting profanities and doing his best to get his zanpakuto back. To his great frustration, every time when it was almost within his reach, Uryuu vanished. Ichigo just couldn't figure out how he managed to do it. He thought about it though. If that was something the Quincy could do whenever he wanted, then that was how he'd managed to get Ichigo's zanpakuto in the first place.

Ichigo started to pay closer attention to the Quincy's feet rather than focusing on getting back his zanpakuto. With that speed behind the Quincy and Ichigo stuck moving at regular human speed, then if he didn't buff up on his own speed, he was useless.

For the first few times, Ichigo couldn't see anything special about what Uryuu did. Then, slowly, he managed to see a brief flash of light underneath his feet. _'That must be how he's doing the speed thing…'_ Ichigo thought. Now the question was, what was the speed?

Before Ichigo could see anything else, they hit the river. He stopped and looked down at the spot where his mom died.

"Mom…" he whispered.

Uryuu stopped and watched as Ichigo slowly made his way down the bank to the water. His hand was on his chest and his hair was covering his eyes. Uryuu stepped closer and watched Ichigo with keen eyes. Something fell down Ichigo's cheek and landed on his hand.

"He's crying…" Uryuu murmured. This really shocked him. He had never seen Kurosaki cry. Sure he wanted to see it, but now that he had… He felt… responsible. But it was his goal to punish the shinigami! The only reason he was helping now was because they would never get a chance to finish their fight if Ichigo died! …right?

Ichigo clutched at his chest as a phantom pain hit his heart. This was more than just the pain of his mother's death… There was something else…

_ A girl with orange hair plastered to her head from the air ran down the river bank._

_ "Don't jump!" she shouted. Ichigo ran after her, trying to stop her when he saw the girl standing on the edge of the river. Instead of trying to stop the girl that looked like him, he tried to stop the girl on the edge of the water. When he was only a few feet away, the orange haired girl tripped and slammed- She went through her! Ichigo watched as she sank into the water._

_ "No!" he screamed, "Ritsu!" he ran after her, but he slipped and banged his head. When he woke up, something heavy and cold was on top of him. He opened his eyes to see his mother. Crawling out from under her, he refused to believe the obvious. Blood mixed with the rain all around her._

_ Ichigo looked around and spotted a yellow rain boot down river. He checked his own feet. Both boots were there. That meant…_

_ "Mom… Ritsu…" tears poured down his cheeks. Now his mother and sister were gone…_

Uryuu watched as Ichigo collapsed on the side of the river. Using hirenkyaku, he appeared next to him and picked him up. He had been watching Ichigo try to figure out the Quincy method and had noticed him see the light from the displacement from the shifting reatisu. It wasn't very surprising though, Kurosaki could be very observational when he wanted to. Other times though, expecting him to even remember his own name was too much. Uryuu used hirenkyaku to get back to Urahara's shop.

"My, my, my…" the shop keeper said, walking up next to the Quincy, "What happened this time?"

"Like you don't already know _Shinigami._" Uryuu responded coldly.

"No!" Urahara protested, "I was tending to Ritsu-san!"

"Fine." Uryuu said coldly, "We passed the river; he stopped, started crying, looked like he was in extreme pain, then passed out."

"That's it?" Urahara asked, disappointedly. The shinigami was upset. Uryuu gave descriptions just like his father. Medically and distantly. No juicy details whatsoever. Urahara whipped out his fan and gestured for Uryuu to follow him. From the sound of things, his theory was correct. Now all he had to do was to see what Ritsu knew…

* * *

><p>When Urahara climbed down the ladder, Ritsu wasn't laying where he had left her. He could still sense her spiritual pressure though, so he found a seat near the edge and waited. As expected, she showed herself soon enough. She danced through a fluid set of movements, her zanpakuto strapped to her back. Urahara watched silently, wondering how long it would take before she noticed he was there. After five minutes, he stood.<p>

"You noticed when I came in didn't you?" he asked, pulling out his fan. She stopped in front of him, her fist pointed right at Urahara's throat.

"Yes." she said shortly.

"Who are you?" he asked, staying frozen in place.

"Masaki Ritsu." she replied quietly. Urahara smiled behind his fan and took a step back from the clenched fist at his throat.

"Well then Masaki-san," Urahara started, "it's time we got to work."

* * *

><p>Two hours later showed Ritsu sitting at the foot of the ladder, drenched in sweat with only minor scrapes and trickles of blood running down her cheek. The most serious injury was a severely sprained ankle. Urahara came forward and knelt next to her. She tensed and started to scramble away, keeping one fist up between her and the shop owner.<p>

"Stop." Urahara commanded, "I'm going to heal your ankle." Ritsu stopped and let him near her, but she watched him sharply. Urahara started a kido silently and Ritsu watched the green light with fascination as the pain in her ankle subsided into a throb before disappearing completely. A frown wormed its way onto her face. The feeling of the… spell, for want of a better word, was familiar. She'd experienced it before.

Urahara watched her concentrate on the kido and hid a smile when she frowned. It was familiar to her. That meant she was receiving an echo of her memories. What Urahara didn't expect was for Ritsu to copy his hand position and feed her own reatisu into the air. He watched as she struggled, but made an acceptable replication of the kido.

Ritsu pulled her energies into the palms of her hand and forced it into a shield like he was doing to her ankle. It took her a few tries, but she managed to do it. Her face started to pull into a smile, but she stopped it. For some reason, she must have been a happy person on the outside before she lost everything. Now, she wasn't going to fake. She was going to show how she felt. Hiding behind a mask wouldn't help anything. At least, not a mask of smiles anyways…

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**OK, this is late because most of the time when I write chapters, I write them in one go, so it takes me a little while. Neddless to say, I don't have time every other week or even every month to sit down and plow out six straight pages. This is only three pages because it's kind of a filler chapter because I felt like Ritsu needs a little training before I have what I have planned... happen. I already have the chapter after next written, so I'll try to get the next one out then we can get on with the kidnapping! I should probably stop talking now, but I exist only as a semi-real entity who only lives to cause chaos in your life and attempt to consume all of your time. Plus, I was rewatching Beauty and the Beast while I wrote this and I discovered that Bell and Beast were reading Romeo and Juliet together. Did anyone else know that or am I just REALLY unobservant?**

**Hit the button!**

**You know you want to!**

**It's right there!**

**l  
>V<strong>


	15. Chapter 15

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

******Well, since I posted such a short chapter last time, I thought I'd update a little early for you guys. Enjoy!**

Chapter Fifteen

Ichigo sat up and grabbed his head. He felt like a truck had run him over. Repeatedly. Scratch that, make it infinitively. He sat like that for a while, not even particularly caring why he felt like that, just wanting to get rid of it. After what seemed like forever, he sighed and looked around him. He was sitting back in Urahara's back room.

He got to his feet and walked into the hallway. There was no one there. Something familiar was nearby… He looked through all the rooms. When he got to the last room in the hall, Tessai was standing in the doorway.

"Kurosaki-san!" he greeted him. He sounded and looked surprised to see Ichigo awake. Ichigo narrowed his eyes. Something didn't feel right… "Let's get you back to bed Sir, we're still not entirely sure why you collapsed in the first place, there could be a relapse…" Ichigo stopped listening. He remembered why he had collapsed.

"Who's in there?" Ichigo asked bluntly.

"No one Kurosaki-san…" Tessai answered, "Let's get you back to bed now, you could use some more rest." Ichigo nodded and let Tessai pass him, presumably to lead him back down the hallway, but instead of following, he slipped into the room.

Ritsu nodded as the man with the energies that had reminded her of caramel stood to walk out of the room. He had described each of the people that came to the store on a semi-frequent basis and told her everyone's names and hobbies. The man standing up was Tessai and he liked to create herbal remedies and reorganize the shelves. He went to the door and froze.

"Kurosaki-san!" he started. Ritsu froze. Kurosaki was her father's name. Could it be that her father… No, it couldn't be. Urahara-san had said… Urahara also lied. That much she could tell already. It was possible it was her father, but something told her that if it was her father, he would be in here already. She got to her feet and picked up the brush that Tessai had brought her along with a hair-tie. In short order, her hair was in a high pony-tail that went to her middle back. She placed the brush back on the floor just as Tessai started to walk away.

Ritsu straightened up and a lighter set of footsteps darted in the door to her room. They didn't sound right for anyone in the store who worked here… She took a moment to think and decided to take a chance.

"Are you Kurosaki?" she asked tentatively.

"Yeah." A male voice answered her. She tensed further. "I'm Kurosaki Ichigo."

"I… Ichigo?" she asked. That name was so familiar! Why? Her head started to throb again. Something was definitely wrong.

"Are you okay?" Ichigo asked the girl in front of him. She reminded him of Ritsu, but from what he remembered, Ritsu was dead. She'd fallen in the river and never made it out… He wasn't positive though, and she wasn't answering. "Are you… Are you Ritsu?"

Ritsu froze when he said her name. She wanted to remember so badly, but she was faced with a blank wall. He knew her, but she had no idea who he was.

"Yes…" Ritsu managed. She turned slowly; sweat drenching her face and chest. He had orange hair, the same build as her, and… and his eyes…. They were the same color. Ritsu collapsed and Ichigo rushed forward to catch her. She was his… Sister? While that sounded right, he couldn't remember specifically what type of sister. For all he knew, they were twins. Twins? That was it!

"We're twins…" Ichigo slumped over too, hitting the ground but still managing to keep Ritsu's head on his lap.

Urahara walked in an hour later to find tears pouring down Ritsu's face and an expression of almost joy on Ichigo's. He reached out to lift Ritsu onto her futon when the atmosphere changed. She started screaming.

Ritsu thrashed in dark water, struggling to find the surface. All the air was gone from her lungs and she had absolutely no idea which way was up. She picked a direction randomly and kicked as hard as she could. Her boot slipped off and she ran into the bottom of the river. Black started to eat at her as she kicked off the bed. Her legs slowed down as she kicked and no matter how hard she tried, the surface stayed out of reach. She stopped kicking and finally sank back to the bottom. The dark swallowed her and her last thought was of her mother's smiling face.

Urahara held Ritsu down for a moment while Tessai dragged Ichigo out into the hallway. Then Tessai set up a healing kido mixed with a containment kido. She still managed to move though. Her fiery reatisu flailed wildly and it seemed that absolutely nothing was under her control. Then, without warning, everything stopped. Her reatisu dropped to a reasonable rate and she stopped moving. Tessai let the kido run for just a few more moments before cutting it off.

Urahara stood up from the floor slowly, waving off Tessai's offer of help.

"Take care of those two, then meet me in the basement." Tessai nodded and Urahara walked down the hallway. Instead of going the long way and taking the time to climb down the ladder, he jumped. With a small poof of dust, he landed and started drawing in the dirt what he wanted Tessai to build. It wouldn't be long before they came for Rukia. They had to finish this device before then, or Ritsu might never regain even a fraction of herself before that. If she couldn't, she might not know what she would even be fighting for…

Out in the hallway, Ichigo was waking up. His head hurt again, but this time he remembered immediately. He had remembered Ritsu coming back from that horrible incident. The whole two weeks of pain because he'd lost her had come back to him at once. His head didn't hurt any worse than the first time though. He shook his head and pulled himself to his feet.

Ichigo walked into Ritsu's room and sat next to her on the floor.

"How long was I out?" he asked, rubbing the back of his head. Urahara looked up at him.

"I think about an hour, maybe a little more." It was Tessai who actually answered him. "Would you like me to that care of that for you?" Tessai gestured towards Ichigo's head. Without waiting for an answer, Tessai started the kido on him. After a few minutes, during which Tessai got water with which to wash Ritsu's face, he deactivated it.

"Thanks…" Ichigo said awkwardly. Tessai nodded and went to the closet. He pulled out a clean futon and laid it out next to Ritsu's. Then he knelt down and started to wash her face.

"Get some rest." Tessai said to him quietly.

"Right…" Ichigo nodded stiffly. He stood silently as Tessai finished at Ritsu's side and made his way back to the door.

"Tessai?" Ichigo started, not quite sure how to phrase the next part of his statement.

"Yes?" the gentle giant answered him.

"I think… Well, I don't know her very well, but I'm sure that if… If she was awake right now, she'd want to thank you…" Tessai nodded and walked out the door, a tear gently gliding down his cheek. The two had already gone through so much. Pushing them through what was going to happen next seemed like it was too much.

"I'm sorry Kurosaki-sans…" he whispered.

* * *

><p>"You want <em><strong>what <strong>_from me?" Uryuu demanded, anger coloring his tone. Urahara sat in front of him, calmly fanning himself in the manner of one with all the cards.

"You know exactly what I want." he answered the furious Quincy, "I want you to work with shinigami beyond what will come in the Soul Society."

"Look," Uryuu snapped furiously, "we don't even know what's going to happen exactly! I might not even be needed in the Soul Society!"

"You expect the two Kurosakis to infiltrate Soul Society all on their own?" Urahara said from behind his fan, "There are thousands of shinigami just waiting for something like this to happen, with even the weakest unseated officer having more training than the two of them together."

"I don't ca-" Uryuu started. Then he realized something. He did care. More than he cared even about his pride as a Quincy. He cared if Ritsu-san made it out okay. Somehow, she meant so much more to him than anything else. And that scared him. So he finished his sentence anyways. "I don't care! I'm a Quincy, not a shinigami, and I don't involve myself in _your_ people's matters!" Uryuu stormed out of Urahara's shop and the crazy shopkeeper started to laugh.

Urahara knew exactly why Uryuu had hesitated and he was going to use that to his full advantage. Now, he just had to train Ritsu up a little to give her that small chance of surviving the next catastrophe…

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

******Well, what do you guys think? And I'm sorry, I know I promised next chapter we'd get to see the epicness that is legit Shinigami, but I'm gonna have to postpone it one more chapter...**


	16. AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS (not real chapter)

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS THAT ARE ESPECIALLY LONG. NOT A REAL CHAPTER!  
><strong>

**Hey, yeah... I'm a total jerk... I don't think I've touched this in about a year..**

**Okay, there's really no big excuse, but I just kinda lost my muse. Writing one day, everything's great, end up with really bad writer's block Then I figure out I like someone, tell him, and get my fucking heart broken. Oh, and then I have to continue hanging out with him for a week because we were both in 'The Crucible" by Arthur Miller. (I played Rebecca Nurse, he was Danforth (ironic, right?)) But yeah, my life kind sucks right now because I'm failing my Chem class... Life _really_ sucks right now.**

**Anyways, I swear that at some point in time I will finish this story, but for right now it's going on a very long hiatus because I'm rediscovering my love for all things weird and wacky with Doctor Who, Fullmetal Alchemist (anime, brotherhood, and manga, seen 'em all), and HP. If you don't know what HP is, then you're breaking my heart even more than the shattered pieces already are (refer to paragraph above...) Yeah... So, goodbye for quite some time. I'm really sorry**!


	17. Chapter 16

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Erm... Hi? Enjoy the chappy? Don't kill me? PLease? You need me alive to read this... X(**

She panted as the shop owner launched yet another crimson ark of death at her. Wearily, she set her own zanpakuto up for a block. It hurt extremely to even do that much with the ove rsized katana. The attack broke on the sword, but first it broke off a large bit of the tempered steel. It sent an enormous shock up her arms and her numbed hands dropped the blade as another crimson wave soared straight towards her. She tried to dodge, but just managed a slightly useless collapse to the side. In a flash, literally, the green robed man was at her side feeling for a pulse (Did a spirit even have a pulse? She supposed that she must, she wasn't even dead after all…) and other vitals with a strange kido that cast an orange light over her torso. After a few moments he released the kido and slid his zanpakuto (she thought that it was called Benihime) back into his cane.

"Break time," he declared, helping her to her shaking feet, "Let's go introduce you to the hot spring." She simply walked as best she could with a halfhearted smile aimed at him.

"Arigatou Urahara-san," she said once he'd sat her down on a ledge near the alleged hot-spring. He glanced at her now callous developing hands and retrieved his fan from out of his sleeve.

"If you get into the hot-spring it should help to reduce the sprains and anything else as well as give you a chance to rest." He waited for a moment, but she made no move to slide in, instead fingering her obi nervously.

"Gomen, ano… Could you go get my zanpakuto for me? I left it over where I fell… I couldn't quite lift it…" Urahara took the nervous hint and turned away, walking out of sight before calling behind him to the rustle of fabric.

"I need to go help Tessai-san up in the shop, if I stay down here with you any longer I'm afraid he'll come looking for me~!" Urahara slid his fan back into his sleeve and glanced around the underground room to survey the damages. The two hour training session had really done a number on the place and it was definitely worse for the wear. A frown made its way onto his face. The extent of the damage was enormous due to Ritsu's heavily unstable reatisu. He'd applied kido after kido to try and help, but no matter what it did it was just as volatile as before, if not more so. He let out a sigh as he approached the ladder; that would be the focus of the next session.

He ascended to the trapdoor by way of a platform of reatisu. If it were any other day he'd just climb, but he was exhausted and didn't feel the need to have to change his clothes. Plus, if it were any other day he'd be soaking in the hot-spring too. Ritsu's fiery reatisu was very similar to the head captain's and therefore really hurt when it was released to its full potential. If it were any more like the head captain's reatisu, he'd just start calling Ritsu 'Yamamoto Ritsu'. It was almost as if she was his daughter. His eyes widened fractionally. Her reatisu wasn't enough to be a daughter, or a granddaughter, but farther down the line was definitely possible. Especially if…

Urahara walked out into the front of the shop to discover Tessai arguing with Jinta about the sweeping and Ururu standing off to the side, holding a broom that was twice as tall as she was. She nodded when she saw him, but otherwise stayed silent. He nodded back and approached the bickering pair.

"Tessai-san?" he asked, voice serious for once, "Could you come with me for a moment?"

"Hai," replied the man, dropping the squirming Jinta back onto his feet, "What do you need?" he asked as they walked inside. Urahara held up a hand and led the way to his private rooms where several monitors sat. Displayed on the various screens where the miscellaneous records and readings he'd taken of Ritsu throughout the lesson.

"I…" Urahara started, not quite sure how to proceed, "I have a theory, but I'll need your help proving it. Do you know where the remains of the Head Captain's reatisu samples are?"

"No Urahara-san," Tessai answered, pushing his glasses farther up onto his face, "They were destroyed shortly after we had gathered them. Don't you remember?"

"Oh," Urahara laughed nervously, "I guess I don't. Do you still have the readings?"

"Hai," Tessai replied, "Shall I fetch them for you?" Urahara nodded and sat at one of the monitors that held a picture of the hot spring below. If normal people knew that he was looking at a 'helpless' girl bathing, he would be called 'hentai' and 'chikan' faster than you could possibly imagine. In reality though, he wasn't studying the girl at all, but rather, the particles that were flowing even now towards her gigai.

That connection was strange, and he had no idea how it functioned. For some reason, the gigai could tell that Ritsu was a living soul. It knew that she existed in the world of the living. Why was that? He'd built the gigai specifically to have the proper adjustments to resolve a few unwanted complaints by previous shinigami. For his adjustments to have taken the sensor capabilities that high, was a little troubling. It meant, for at least one thing, that active shinigami would not be able to use this new gigai. They wouldn't be able to enter into the false body the same way they couldn't enter a human's body. It would reject them.

"But how can it tell what you are, Ritsu-chan?" Urahara mused aloud. Soft footsteps warned him of Tessai's imminent return and he spun to face the gentle giant.

"Here you are, Urahara-san." Urahara took the report from Tessai and flipped straight to the direct analysis on the composition, more specifically, the elemental base of Yamamoto's reatisu. At first he skimmed briefly, but then he froze and read over the words in greater detail.

"Get me an analysis of Ritsu's reatisu, right now. Immediately." Tessai nodded and turned once more to retrieve the equipment to take a sample of the scraps of reatisu floating downstairs in the training chamber. After Tessai left, Urahara turned back to the computer screens, attempting to discern the meaning of the trailing particles.

Ritsu settled down into the hot spring, letting out a long sigh as the warmth began to seep into her weary bones.

'I'm so exhausted…' she thought to herself as she draped her hair over the edge of the tub-like indentation, 'He's been training me for a month and a half now… So… Exhausting… I can't really do much still though, just basic training. And Ichigo… I know that he and I… are… Related, twins… But… How can I be positive? I haven't… Can't remember anything else…'

Ritsu shifted her weight and let out a sigh. Somehow, on some basic level, she knew that what she was doing now was not what she did before. Before she… Forgot… Of her past, things had been different, much, much different. But what exactly did she do? What did Ichigo do? He… Went to… School. He went to school everyday. Did she want… Could she…?

"Could I… Go to school?" Ritsu mused aloud. It sounded reasonable to her, but Urahara-san… He might not think so. After all, he wanted her to be trained for some reason. She just didn't know why.

Ritsu soaked for some time and only once her bruises and sprains were healed did she climb out. She dressed quickly and started for the ladder once she retrieved her zanpakuto. It was time to see where Urahara-san was hiding. As she turned around a pillar of rock, she saw Tessai appear out of nowhere.

"Hello Tessai-san," she said, hiding her surprise, "What are you doing?"

"Collecting some of Urahara-san's reatisu scraps," Tessai lied, thinking quickly, "He always loves to analyze his own reatisu for changes." Rtisu nodded, but frowned at the same time.

"Do you know where Urahara-san is right now?"

"I do believe the boss is labeling merchandise in the back." Ritsu nodded and headed to the ladder, getting the feeling that Tessai had been lying to her. He didn't have any reason to, she mused in her head, but she was getting the same feeling that she'd gotten before when her instincts had insisted to only partially trust Urahara. _ 'My youfu...'_ she thought carefully,_ 'My adoptive father...'_ She, of course, had figured out by now that Urahara had lied to her on that front. He'd presented foods to her that she figured out she hated by the smell and refused to tell her of any of her old hobbies. Ritsu shook her head and climbed, thinking of 'school'.

**AUTHOR'S RAMBLINGS**

**Look at me bein' all fancy and showing everybody I'm alive! XD Anyways, I think I actually know what's going to happen next, so just let me know what you guys think! X3**


End file.
